Product category: Communications ICs (Wireless)
News Release from: Cambridge Silicon Radio
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 23 February 2007
Strong growth in Bluetooth fuels CSR
CSR revenues for 2006 were up 45% to US $704.7 million ($486.5 million in 2005) and operating profits up 33% to $149.0 million ($111.9 million in 2005)
CSR has announced its 2006 financial results with the company showing revenues for the year up 45% to US $704.7 million ($486.5 million in 2005) and operating profits up 33% to $149.0 million ($111.9 million in 2005). CSR is already successfully executing on its strategy to diversify beyond supplying its Bluetooth technology to mobile phone customers.
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 23 February 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Design speeds development of internet radio
CSR's low cost RadioPro design has enabled NTEEP to produce a versatile module that can easily be adopted to provide Wi-Fi functionality
Bluetooth IC makes photo frames multimedia
Reference design for digital photo frames allows the frame to not only receive pictures but also to play audio streamed via Bluetooth, providing a richer experience for the consumer
More than 50% of the company's revenue in 2006 came from noncellular business and prominent design wins included Sony's Playstation 3 (with CSR's FastStream low latency Bluetooth technology), Motorola S9 stereo headset, the Sony Ericsson MBR100 music receiver, a Samsung Plasma TV, and Samsung's Yepp T9 MP3 player.
In the mobile phone market, CSR continues to offer the strongest Bluetooth product range to phone designers.
This was borne out in 2006 by CSR winning 99 out of the 226 phone designs from top tier phone makers.
To ensure CSR maintains the lead in this market, some of CSR's recent technology developments have included BlueCore5-FM (Bluetooth silicon with integrated FM radio); and CSR's software GPS offering (technology acquired via the acquisitions of Cambridge Positioning Systems and NordNav Technologies), which is to be integrated into CSR's Bluetooth silicon this year and will ultimately provide an embedded GPS solution for mobile handsets with a cost adder of less than $1.
The Bluetooth market overall grew from 310 million to 320 million in 2005 (source: IMS), to over half a billion units in 2006.
Further reading
Single-chip Wi-Fi connects digital photo frame
UniFi will provide users with the ability to send their favourite photos directly to an 8in LCD display, without using wires
Collaboration slashes GPS costs
CSR's software approach eliminates the need for a dedicated GPS baseband, reducing the cost of the module to less than half of what competitors are able to offer
Reference design speeds Internet radio to market
Intempo's Internet radio offers access to thousands of Internet and FM radio stations, providing wireless streaming of Internet radio via Wi-Fi without the need for a PC
In 2006, 43% of all qualified Bluetooth products were in the noncellular sector (as listed on the Bluetooth SIG website).
CSR believes strong growth in the Bluetooth market will continue in 2007 and in particular will be seen beyond the cellular sector in applications including PCs, gaming, music and automotive.
CSR continues to innovate in these other markets with a raft of partnerships under the company's Extension Partner Programme bringing a wide range of audio enhancements to CSR's multimedia Bluetooth products, in particular to headsets where CSR won 84% of the designs in 2006.
These enhancements maximise on the opportunity presented by CSR's on-chip DSP architecture in CSR's BlueCore5-Multimedia, and include text to speech, noise suppression, bass boost and low latency audio compression amongst others.
CSR's most recent chip launch was BlueVOX QFN, a Bluetooth chip designed in a package that makes it possible for headset makers to use CSR's reference design to make ultra low cost (a $6 electronic bill of materials) Bluetooth headsets available to a wider market.
CSR's UniFi single-chip Wi-Fi products are also continuing to penetrate the market, and, as part of its convergence strategy, CSR launched two products: UniVox, a low cost, low power Voice over IP solution for DECT-replacement handsets for the home; and UniVox Mobile, a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth subsystem for converting mobile handsets into dual mode Voice over IP handsets.
In the automotive segment, CSR won 75% of all products qualified in this market in 2006, with notable design wins including TomTom in Europe and Garmin in the US.
The automotive market for Bluetooth is experiencing growth and CSR's RoadRunner Plug-n-Talk is now shipping as a ready engineered and fully interoperable automotive solution that provides a pretested, customisable package from which OEMs and ODMs can quickly and easily create a low-cost Bluetooth handsfree kit.
The company stated that Q1 2007 revenues are expected to be in the range of $145-160 million.
On the basis of the company's leading design win share, a strong product range in all segments, a growing cellular market and in particular a growing market beyond the mobile phone, CSR believes that the company is on track to meet its expectations for 2007.
• Cambridge Silicon Radio: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Electronicstalk email newsletter
• Electronicstalk Home Page
