WiMAX chip maker Altair Semiconductor on Tuesday said it closed on $22 million in funding from an international cast of investors including Japan-focused Pacific Technology Fund and London-based ETV Capital.
The new cash haul, which will be in the form of a combined equity and credit investment, bumps Hod Hasharon, Israel-based Altair’s funding total to $48 million.
The WiMAX market, which has moved slowly from concept to network deployment, has had some good news lately.
In May, Google, and cable operators Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House joined longtime WiMAX backer Intel along with carriers Sprint and Clearwire in a $14.5 billion investment in a nationwide U.S. WiMAX network.(see Tech Consortium Bids $14.5Bon WiMAX)
The high-profile investment in WiMAX is the technology’s largest to date and a major opportunity for WiMAX product suppliers to begin seeking some much-needed economies of scale and lower unit costs.
Much of the implementations of WiMAX networks will take place in developed countries such as the U.S. and Japan but even more of the investment in WiMAX-based communications will take place in the developing world.
Altair has begun its transition from an engineering and development company into a marketing business courting and jointly testing its products with high-profile customers such as WillCom, a Japanese operator.
“We have now proven our claims that we market the smallest and lowest power mobile WiMAX chip in the market today,” said Eran Eshed, Altair’sco-founder and vice president of marketing and business development.
Small size and low power consumption are key attributes in the development of mobile handsets, the market on which Altair is focused.
Altair will use its latest cash haul to gain enough of a foothold in the market to take its chips into mass production. The company is hoping that lower unit prices will boost international sales.