Europe remains strong in the telecommunications sector says Future Horizons

One of Europe's main industrial strengths still lies in the radio communications part of the telecommunications sector, where it excels in basestation systems and mobile phone handset design, says Future Horizons in the European Fabless Semiconductor Report, released today. “This gives rise to a high demand for semiconductors within the European telecommunications sectors for mobile phone infrastructure and handsets,” said Alan Brown, Senior Industry Analyst at Future Horizons. “The result is even more demand for independent design-house skills, increasingly special technology requirements now moving on to 3G, mobile TV and Far Eastern mobile phone requirements.”

“Europe's electronics and semiconductor industry has seen recent restructuring resulting in lower staffing levels,” he continued. “Because of this, many engineers left to form independent design centres, chipless IP vendors and fabless semiconductor companies. The formation of new semiconductor companies is likely to accelerate during the current recession and will strengthen the European base of innovation for the future. It is a tough environment but new products and new companies will emerge to support electronic equipment manufacturing in Europe and elsewhere.”

Chipless, fabless and design companies are becoming the preferred model for start-ups because of the prohibitive cost on in-house wafer fabrication.

Posted By: Malcolm Penn

Date: 28-Apr-2009

Category: Reports