WLAN Jumps 82%, iSuppli Reports

Online staff -- Electronic News, 4/9/2004

Like a fire fueled by the Wi-Fi explosion, the market for wireless LAN equipment blazed to $2.8 billion in 2003, up 82 percent from $1.6 billion in 2002, iSuppli reported today.

Sales of WLAN chipsets rose to $760 million in 2003, up 74 percent from $436 million in 2002, the firm's data shows.

Furthermore, iSuppli predicts the number of devices shipped with embedded Wi-Fi will rise to 167.8 million units in 2008, up from just 14.2 million in 2003, further fueling the fire.

Embedded Wi-Fi in 2003 accounted for 36 percent of all client access equipment -- PCMCIA and PCI network interface cards (NIC), mini PCI cards for embedded applications, compact flash cards and USB clients -- up from 13 percent in 2002. ISuppli concluded that this segment will account for 80 percent of all Wi-Fi client access equipment in 2008.