Abstract

In the period immediately after its establishment, Vimicro leveraged its CMOS multimedia processor chip technology and the funding support that the company received from the Chinese government to develop PC camera IC solutions. Important customers during this period included Lenovo, Samsung, and HP.

With the gradual replacement of CCD camera modules in mobile phones by CMOS camera modules, Vimicro has been able to exploit its expertise in CMOS technology to expand into the mobile phone IC market. In addition, the growing popularity of music functions in mobile phones encouraged Vimicro to start developing digital audio processing technology, resulting in the introduction of the VC0900 series audio processors, which provide polyphonic ringtone function while also integrating MP3 and Hi-Fi capabilities. Finally, Vimicro integrated its image and audio technology to develop multimedia processors.

It is anticipated that around 900 million mobile phones will be sold worldwide in 2006. The share of total mobile phone shipment volume held by camera phones and MP3 phones is growing steadily. However, the leading international mobile phone vendors such as Nokia and Motorola have been adopting one-chip solutions that integrate the baseband chip and multimedia processor, such as those provided by TI and Freescale. By contrast, OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) makers and EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Service) providers, which generally have limited design capabilities, find it difficult to integrate baseband ICs and multimedia processors supplied by different vendors, so it is the OEM and EMS providers that constitute the largest pool of potential customers for Vimicro.

Appendix

List of Companies