CSR plc (LSE:CSR), considered the market share leader in the Bluetooth
wireless chip market, reported another strong quarter with sales reaching $94.8 million, up 61 percent from last year’s
2nd quarter of $58.9 million and up 43 percent from $66.4 million in CSR’s first quarter of 2005. For the first half
of the year, total revenues reached $161.1 million compared to $95.7 million for the first half of 2004.
Along with the increased revenues, CSR reported that its design
wins have passed the 1,000 mark and now include BenQ, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. Still though, even
with the broad base of design wins, CRS, like most fabless semiconductor companies depends on just a few companies for the
majority of its sales. For the second quarter of 2005, CSR’s top five customers accounted for over 65 percent of total
sales with its top customer accounting for over 20 percent of total revenue. Integrated circuit revenue prevailed in the quarter,
with royalty revenue making up only $1.7 million revenue in the second quarter, the same amount the company recorded for the
first quarter of 2005.
The company also indicated that the average selling price of its
products declined 4.8 percent from levels seen in the first quarter of 2005 – setting the stage for an overall price
drop in the Bluetooth chip industry.
CSR with the increased revenues also estimated that its market share
grew from 51 percent in the first quarter of 2005 to 56 percent in the second quarter of 2005.
CSR also broke down its design wins by market sector in the quarter.
It reported that it had continued success in the GSM market, with 12 GSM mobile phone qualifications in Q2 2005 and reports
that it now has obtained wins in over 60 percent of the 50 GSM phones that have been in qualified in the first half of 2005.
In the headset market, CSR reports that it obtained over 90 percent
of the available design wins. In the second quarter it reported that a design win from Sony Ericsson was obtained and that
several other companies have qualified its products for headset applications. These companies included GN Netcom (Jabra brand),
Motorola, Nokia, Plantronics and Samsung.
New market activity was also brisk according to the company. There
has been design activity from the MP3 player and PC market, which have been adopting Bluetooth for stereo headsets applications.
CSR reported several design wins in the stereo headphone market. Noted primarily was Samsung as well as design wins from iTEch,
WiGear and Airlogic, which plan to use Bluetooth chips in headphones designed to work with popular MP3 players. In the PC
market, CSR reported a win rate of 75 percent for laptops qualified in the quarter. Design wins were from NEC, Panasonic and
Toshiba. In the automotive market, CSR reported an 85 percent win rate for available designs in the second quarter. Wins were
from leaders in the automobile electronics market such as Hyundai, Delphi Corporation, Nokia and Pioneer.
CSR
also reported interest in its newer product development efforts outside the Bluetooth area. Specifically the company noted
that there was customer interest in its UniFi single chip IEEE802.11a, b, g WiFi solution for mobile phone applications and
other consumer electronic applications. The company noted that interest was from module and mobile phone companies.
With all the activity, CSR’ Board is optimistic. For the third
quarter revenue projections are between $125 million and $135 million. CSR’s headcount now stands at 422, up from 383
at the end of the first quarter of 2005.
