Broadcom’s Focus On Low-Cost Smartphone Market To Increase Its Share In Application Processors

-9.05%
Downside
54.67
Market
49.72
Trefis
BRCM: Broadcom logo
BRCM
Broadcom

In a recent interview, Broadcom‘s (NASDAQ:BRCM) chief executive, Scott McGregor, declared the company’s intention to work toward building a relationship with low cost Chinese smartphone makers as the company focuses on expanding its presence in microchips that allow handsets to connect to the Internet. Broadcom looks ahead to working with manufacturers such as ZTE Corp as it aims to gain share in other emerging markets as well where the demand for low-cost handsets is on the rise. [1]

Historically, Broadcom has lagged behind in the baseband and application processor market. However, the company has registered a marginal increase in its market share over the years. According to a recent report by Strategy Analytics, Broadcom ranked fourth in the global smartphone application processor market, which at $2.47 billion, posted a robust 55% y-0-y growth in Q1 2o12. Though Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) retained its leadership position in the applications processor market, it registered a decline in its revenue share due to intense competition from Broadcom and MediaTek in low-end Android smartphone market. [2] (Read Related Article: Qualcomm Dials Up $69 On Smartphone Demand In Emerging Markets)

See Our Complete Analysis for Broadcom Here


Relevant Articles
  1. Fresh Highs On The Horizon For Broadcom Inc. Stock?
  2. Why Broadcom’s Rumored $15-Billion Acquisition Of Symantec Makes Sense
  3. Broadcom Limited Q1’16 Earnings Review: Wired & Wireless Business To See A Significant Jump After The Inclusion Of Broadcom Results
  4. What’s Broadcom’s Fundamental Value Based On Expected 2015 Results?
  5. By How Much Can Broadcom’s Revenue & EBITDA Grow In The Next 5 Years?
  6. Connectivity, Home Entertainment & Networking: What Is Broadcom’s Revenue & Gross Profit Breakdown?

Stand-alone processors accounted for 44% of smartphone apps processors in Q1 2012, up from 39% in Q1 2011. [2] However, baseband-integrated app processors are cheaper for handset makers to use in mobile phones compared to standalone processors. The baseband-integrated app processors strategy of companies such as Broadcom and MediaTek is the prime reason for the growing threat to Qualcomm.

Broadcom is looking at developing new chips compatible with mobile phones in China as the current chips produced by the company are only compatible with China Unicom phones. We believe that Broadcom’s focus on the rapidly growing low-cost smartphone market in emerging countries could turn out to be a good long-term strategy, and could further pull up its market share in smartphone application processors. However, with the continuously evolving Chinese semiconductor industry, Broadcom might face intense competition from the other market players.

China Leads the World in Smartphone Sales

With the increasing adoption of mobile devices globally, smartphones and tablets are slated to fuel growth in the semiconductor industry, going forward. Much of this growth is presently coming from the emerging economies with China leading the pack, so far. According to estimates by Canalys, smartphone shipments in China registered a phenomenal y-o-y growth of 199%, shipping close to 42 million smartphones in Q2 2012. In comparison, the worldwide smartphone sales grew by only 47%. Bypassing the U.S., the country accounted for 27% of the global smartphone shipments in Q2 2012. [3]

Low-end smartphones are growing at a rapid pace in emerging markets such as China, and with a relatively low smartphone penetration, many mobile semiconductor manufacturers are trying to penetrate these markets. China, for example, has 3G penetration of about 17%, but smartphone sales are growing rapidly. This gives most chipset players an even ground to grow their market share.

We have a price estimate of $45.99 for Broadcom, a premium of around 30% to the current market price.

Understand How a Company’s Products Impact its Stock Price at Trefis

which faces competition from semiconductor companies like Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) and Marvell technologies (NASDAQ:MRVL), announced its Q1 2012 result on Tuesday. With acquisition of NetLogic complete, the quarter posted revenue of $1.83 billion. Though, excluding the NetLogic revenue the company saw a marginal decline in its result, we believe it is more on account of the industry slowdown and the overall prospects of the company look good to support a double digit growth in 2012. Here we point out certain factors that had an impact on Q1 performance as well as trends likely to influence the future outlook of the company.

Notes:
  1. Broadcom Seeks Links to China’s Smartphone Market, The Wall Street Journal, August 22, 2012 []
  2. Strategy Analytics: Smartphone Applications Processor Revenue Soared 55 Percent in Q1 2012, Market Watch, August 7, 2012 [] []
  3. Canalys Q2: 68% Of All Smartphones Shipped Were Android; China’s The Biggest Market By A Wide Margin, Tech Crunch, August 2, 2012 []