Date:29/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/29/stories/2006032903191800.htm

Business

Handsets using single-chip solution from Texas to hit market

Special Correspondent

Single-chip solution will cut mobile handset costs to Rs. 1,000

BANGALORE: Mobile handsets using the single-chip cell-phone solution from Texas Instruments Inc. are expected to be available in the market from the second half of this year.

"The single-chip solution is now under sampling with a number of customers including Nokia. Handsets using the single chip are most likely to become available in the market from the second half of 2006,'' Richard K Templeton, President and CEO, Texas Instruments Inc., told reporters here on Tuesday.

The single-chip solution will bring down power and space consumption by 50 per cent and cut handset costs by 30 per cent to around Rs. 1,000.

Given the booming telecom market in India, Mr. Templeton said that cell-phones might end up as the product that represents the era of communications and entertainment that were driving technology globally.

To tap the huge potential, handset makers such as Nokia and Motorola were bringing low cost handsets into the market thereby driving down costs and making it affordable to subscribers, he said. On the other hand, the entertainment industry was expected to be in the $10 billion segment. "Both are potential market opportunities for Texas Instruments,'' Mr. Templeton said. The domestic semiconductor industry was witnessing a renewed vigour with electronic product companies setting up manufacturing bases and expanding their capacity to meet the rising domestic demand. "India will be one of the fastest growing markets for semiconductors in the next few years and we see huge opportunities there,'' he noted.