Renesas Electronics has not carried out its planned reduction in USB 3.0 host IC prices to compete with Taiwan-based design houses, because the latter have not yet obtained USB-IF (Implementers Forum) certification, according to Taiwan-based motherboard makers.
With a global market share of 95%, Renesas currently quotes US$2.20-2.50 for its USB 3.0 host ICs, much higher than US$1.70-1.80 quoted by ASMedia Technology, Etron Technology and VIA Labs of which their products were just adopted by Asustek Computer, ASRock, Elite Computer Systems and Gigabyte Technology for entry-level motherboards, the sources indicated.
The three Taiwan-based design houses may obtain USB-IF certification for USB 3.0 host ICs as early as the end of February 2011, and thus Renesas is expected not to reduce its quotes until as late as the end of the first quarter of 2011, the sources indicated.
But competition is expected to change drastically in the second half of 2011, the sources noted. Once design houses pass USB-IF certification, motherboard vendors will increase adoption of the former's USB 3.0 host ICs to minimize production costs, the sources indicated. The increasing adoption may begin as early as March and consequently Renesas's market share will fall to below 50% or even 30% in the second half of 2011, the sources pointed out.
In addition, quotes for USB 3.0 host ICs are expected to keep dropping to US$1.50 at the end of 2011, US$1.20 in 2012 and US$1 in 2013 when Intel and AMD begin general adoption for their platforms, the sources analyzed.