One Chip For All?

The Austin American-Statesman reports that Silicon Laboratories is set to introduce a new product, AeroFone, which pushes it closer than any other company to putting the essential electronics of a basic cell phone on a single chip. The company already offers a successful radio transceiver chip,the Aero.

Will Strauss at Forward Concepts said, "This moves them up to be a world-class contender for the cellular market now. This moves them up to rank with the big guys in the industry, like Texas Instruments."

Allen Leibovitch at IDC thought the AeroFone chip is evidence that Silicon Labs "is on a growth path. They are still on the way up in terms of maturity. In wireless it is going to be tougher and tougher to survive with just a point product (like the company's radio transceiver chip), and Silicon Labs understands that," Leibovitch said.

Forward Concepts' Strauss added, "This absolutely elevates their stature. People are going to be looking to Austin more than in the past for wireless solutions. There is a hotbed of neurons there."