Broadcom, ST, Renesas, and Trident Lead $3.3 Billion Set-Top Box IC Market

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.– Five companies dominate the worldwide set-top box System on Chip (SoC) IC market, controlling 85 percent of the market share. The market, which was valued at $3.3 billion in 2010, is controlled by the likes of Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM), STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), Renesas (TSE: 6723), Trident Microsystems (Nasdaq: TRID), and Sigma Designs (Nasdaq: SIGM).

Broadcom holds a secure first place with the largest percentage of market share, followed by STMicroelectronics. The two companies diverge on what countries they target with their product shipments. STMicroelectronics focuses on developing regions and free-to-air solutions, with a significantly lower ASP compared to Broadcom’s primary customers in cable and satellite in North America and Western Europe.

Despite 2010 being a banner year for the set-top box IC market, the market is projected to remain relatively flat through 2016, due to market contractions in North America and Western Europe, which will be offset by growth in both the Asia-Pacific and Latin America. “Average selling price (ASP) increases due to advanced features, and delivery of High Definition (HD) video is offset by general price pressure and growth in low-cost chipsets in developing regions,” says Jason Blackwell, practice director, digital home.

Within the set-top box IC market there is also a growing disparity between the two extremes in set-top box products. “There is significant fragmentation of the market, with high-end boxes used in Digital Video Recorders (DVR) supporting rich electronic program guides (EPGs) gaining high performance processors and even graphical processing units (GPUs), while low end chips for cost-sensitive customers in developing markets provide the bare minimum functionality required to deliver video functions”, says Sam Rosen, senior analyst, digital home.

ABI Research’s new report “Set-Top Box Video System on Chip (SoC) Semiconductors” studies trends in set-top box functionality, integration, cost, and key vendors. It discusses coding standards (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 H.264), graphical processing units (GPUs) in set-top box SoCs, home networking connectivity (MoCA, HomePlug, HomeGrid, etc.), internet hybrid set-top boxes, and multi-tuner set-top boxes. It provides semiconductor unit shipments, revenue, and ASP segmented by geography and by platform: cable, satellite, Telco TV, and digital terrestrial (DTT).

It is a component of the TV and Video Research Service, which also includes other Research Reports, Market Data, ABI Insights, and Research Surveys.