TowerJazz gains market share with radio platform for smartphones

TEL AVIV, March 11 (Reuters) - Israeli chip maker TowerJazz said on Monday it has made significant market share gain in the fast-growing front-end module (FEM) market, providing its silicon radio platform for smartphones and other mobile systems.

TowerJazz said its platform allows integration of the radio in mobile devices including components such as antenna switches, antenna tuners, controllers, low-noise-amplifiers and power amplifiers, eliminating the need for expensive devices.

The portion of the FEM market available to TowerJazz is expected to more than triple over the next several years and the company said it is well placed to manufacture a major portion of the devices that will serve this multi-billion dollar market.

According to a 2012 report by the Mobile Experts research firm, the handset front-end market is expected to double to $10 billion by 2017.

A market source who asked not to be identified estimated that TowerJazz's revenue in this area will reach hundreds of millions of dollars annually within three to four years.