Ralink and MediaTek Merge to Consolidate Position in Wireless Market

The Taiwanese company Ralink has just announced that it has merged with MediaTek, as the two medium-sized businesses try to consolidate their position in the wireless market and become a force to be reckoned with.

Ralink's name will surely ring a bell for many computer users since the company is building wireless chips for a wide range of products, including notebooks, routers, Wi-Fi USB dongles and ADSL modems.

Some of its latest products also offer Bluetooth 3.0 and 3x3 MIMO Wi-Fi support, and the company managed to become pretty popular among ADSL equipment makers as it owns about 20 percent of the global xDSL chipset market.

MadiaTek, on the other hand, is less known as the company has struggled to develop competitive Wi-Fi and mobile chipsets.

However, its 2G solutions have been used in a wide range of products, especially across the Asian market, and its recently introduced 3G/HSPA chipsets could become quite popular in the future, especially among budget handsets.

“We expect Wi-Fi connectivity to continue increasing in popularity in the portable consumer and enterprise electronics industries, as well as the digital home,” said MK Tsai, Chairman of MediaTek

“Thus, MediaTek’s addressable market in game consoles, media players, tablets, and TVs will instantaneously expand with the addition of Ralink’s full line of Wi-Fi chips, including fixed, portable and mobile solutions; next generation innovations in technologies like 802.11 ac/ad and VDSL; and world-class customers.”

The two companies have merged through a share swap of 1 MediaTek share for 3.15 shares of Ralink, so the resulting company will retain the MediaTek name.

According to Ralink, the transaction has been approved by the two boards of directors and the deal is expected to be finalized in the forth quarter of 2011, pending shareholder approval and other regulatory reviews.