China handset-design house Wingtech aims to become ODM handset maker

21 May 2008
China-based handset-design house Wingtech Group has emerged as the top handset solution vendor in China, and the company now aims to become an ODM handset maker, according to sources at the company and in the market.
Wingtech saw its shipments of handset solutions increase by more than four fold from four million units in 2006 to 18 million units in 2007, outpacing those from previous leaders, including TechFaith Wireless, Longcheer Group and SIM Technology, said market sources.
For 2008, the company expects its shipments of handset solutions, which comply with a number of standards, including GSM, CDMA, PHS and TD-SCDMA, will top 50 million units, indicated the company sources.
In addition to cooperating with China-based handset chipset vendor Spectrum Communications, Wingtech has also established business relations with other chipset vendors, including NXP Semiconductors and Marvell Technology, the sources noted.
In order to boost its profitability, Wingtech has decided to transform itself into an ODM handset maker by investing US$70 million to build a handset production base in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province in China, said the sources, indicating that the production base aims to turn out 30 million handsets a year initially.

C-Media sales in January to see big leap on buyoant Amoi music phone sales

30 Jan 2008
C-Media Electronics, which partners with handset vendor Amoi Electronics and handset chip designer Spreadtrum Communications in China on music phones

China handset market to remain robust in 2008, says Spreadtrum executive

7 Dec, 2007

NASDAQ-listed handset solutions vendor Spreadtrum Communications expects that the handset market in China will remain strong in 2008 despite a temporary easing in demand seen in the fourth quarter of this year, company vice president Renyong Fan said recently in Taipei.
Continuing economic growth in China, the upcoming commercialization of the TD-SCDMA networks and the planned launch of EDGE and TD-SCDMA services by China Mobile will help drive up demand for handsets in China in the coming year, Fan asserted.
At Spreadtrum, the company has already developed a complete lineup of GSM, EDGE and TD-SCDMA baseband solutions, with some of those solutions already entering design-in and design-win processes with downstream partners, said Fan, noting that a number of devices using Spreadtrum's solutions are to enter mass-production in the first half of 2008.
In other news, the production of Spreadtrum's next-generation baseband handset solutions will migrate to a 65nm process at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in 2008, Fan indicated.

Spreadtrum founder to visit Taiwan partner for touch screen handset solutions

3 Nov, 2007

The founder of China-based Spreadtrum Communications, a fast growing handset chip supplier, will visit Taiwan this week to attend an investors conference of Chip Hope, its local partner for the development of complete handset-use solutions featuring touch functionalities, market sources said.
Fan Yongren (transliterated from Chinese), currently vice president of Spreadtrum, will attend Chip Hope's investors conference on December 5 and will also call on Taiwan's handset vendors and makers, the sources said.
Spreadtrum, whose handset chip shipments for 2007 are expected to top five million units, has been working with Chi Hope to integrate Taiwan-based Elan Microelectronics' touch panel controllers into complete handset solutions, the sources noted.
Fan's attending Chip Hope's investor conference is meant to be a display of the strong partnership between the companies, the sources commented.
Spreadtrum hopes the complete solutions can boost its share of the white-box handset market in China, the sources said, adding a white-box handset with a touch screen can sell for more than 1,000 yuan (US$135), while one without a touch screen is only less than half of the sum.
The Chinese white-box handset market will grow to 100 million units in 2008 from 70-80 million units in 2007, the sources estimate.
Spreadtrum, Chip Hope and Elan are all optimistic about the shipments of the handset solutions they have co-developed, the sources said, adding the prices of their solutions are 30-40% cheaper than the US$18 for the one that Apple has adopted for the iPhone.
They expect ship 50,000-100,000 units of the solutions monthly during the first quarter of 2008, with a monthly goal of 100,000-500,000 units thereafter.