Record sales of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus helped push Apple Inc. last year to the cusp of overtaking Samsung Electronics Co. as Broadcom Corp.’s largest customer.
The Cupertino-based electronics maker accounted for 14%, or roughly $1.16 billion, of Broadcom’s $8.43 billion in sales, according to Broadcom’s annual report. That’s up from 13.3% in 2013.
Broadcom has a chip in the popular iPhone 6 and its phablet model that powers touch functions and is believed to have supplied all the Wi-Fi networking specs in a pricey chip in the latest iPhone models branded under Kyoto, Japan-based Murata Manufacturing Co., according to FBR & Co. analyst Christopher Rolland.
Apple posted record smartphone sales in the holiday December quarter, shipping 74.4 million units, up from 51 million over the same period a year earlier and easily besting analyst expectations. The strong showing, fueled by sizzling sales in China, inched it ahead of Samsung for the market share lead in the quarter, with 20.4% compared to Samsung’s 19.9%, according to market tracker Gartner Inc.
Apple for the year also narrowed the gap in global smartphone sales, with a 15.4% share of the estimated 1.3 billion units sold compared to Samsung’s 24.7%. Apple’s global market share remained steady from 2013, though Samsung’s dropped from nearly 31%.
The dip could explain why Samsung accounted for 14.2% of Broadcom’s revenue last year, down nearly 33% from 2013. Its Galaxy 5 model and Galaxy 4 Note phablet, released last year, carried Broadcom’s combo Wi-Fi chip, which may also show up in the anticipated Galaxy 6 that was released last week.
Apple was Broadcom’s largest customer in 2010 and 2011 before Samsung grabbed the designation in 2012.
ETAP Conference
Irvine-based software maker Operation Technology Inc., better known under brand name ETAP, will host its first global user conference next week at Hotel Irvine.
The event, which will run from April 20 to 22, is expected to draw more than 300 electrical power systems experts, scientists, engineers, and executives from around the world to discuss and present issues critical to modern power system design and operation.
Topics include power generation, transmission and distribution, smart grid, low-voltage systems and industrial applications.
ETAP’s software is used by nearly every U.S. nuclear power plant to manage power systems and prevent possible cataclysmic failures. The segment makes up a small slice of the company’s 5,000-plus customers, which pay a one-time fee for its software and more for upgrades and maintenance.
Consultancies make up ETAP’s largest customer base and include some of the biggest companies in the world, including Halliburton Inc., KBR Inc. and Bechtel Corp.
About 70% of ETAP’s estimated $50 million in annual sales is generated outside the U.S.
It has about 130 employees in Irvine, which would place the company among OC’s 20 largest software companies based on local workforce.
Army Specs
Huntington Beach-based Night Optics Inc. has been awarded an $8.7 million contract from the U.S. Army to supply Jordanian military forces with night-vision monoculars.
The contract calls for the company to supply 2,000 units of the Sentry 14 device, which can be mounted on a helmet or rifle or carried by hand. The product, which costs about $3,550, is suited for combat operations and has been used since 2000 by U.S. and NATO forces.
