Broadcom exits baseband business leaving Qualcomm as sole major player

VR Zone informs us that Broadcom decided to leave the cellular baseband market, the company is shutting down the division and laying off 2500 of its employees. Broadcom claims they didn't sell the division because they didn't believe it could get a worthwhile price.

The news means Qualcomm is now the only major player in the baseband market. Before Broadcom quit the market, Qualcomm had a marketshare of 66 percent in the overall baseband market and even as much as 94 percent in the 4G LTE segment.

Speaking to Reuters, Broadcom Chief Executive Scott McGregor told the newswire that the company made the decision to cut its losses and focus on what it is good at.

“We made the decision to pursue a wind-down, which minimizes the ongoing losses from the business, and enables us to focus on our core strengths that much more quickly,” he said.

Surveying the broadband market, one will find that there’s simply no company that can take on the goliath of Qualcomm. Qualcomm owns 66 percent of the baseband market share, but when that number changes to only include 4G LTE that figure rises to 94 percent. Intel, for instance, is a generation behind Qualcomm with its XMM 7260 and XMM 7160 modems.