Base station IC demand has better 2H09 business outlook than handset ICs

Although Taiwan-based MediaTek has enjoyed booming sales of ICs used in handsets, ICs used in mobile communications base stations have a significantly better global business prospect in the second half of 2009 due to growing demand for infrastructure projects in China and other emerging markets, according to industry sources.

Except MediaTek, first-tier chip makers including Qualcomm and Texas Instruments (TI) are conservative about handset demand in the fourth quarter as they have not seen the US and Europe markets recover.