Chipmaker MaxLinear saw cable data gateway revenues climb more than 10% in Q1 on a sequential basis, thanks in part to a “surge” in 8-channel DOCSIS 3.0 modems tagged for Latin America and a pick-up of 24-channel D3.0 equipment, company CEO Kishore Seendripu said on Monday’s earnings call.
“The DOCSIS data gateway market continues to be an exciting and strategic growth platform for us, which enables us to address the expanding over-the-top video and data markets,” he said. “Our customer design wins and operator engagements around the new multi-gigabit cable DOCSIS 3.1 standard-based data services are gathering strong momentum ahead of the initial product roll-outs expected in the second-half.”
As for silicon for D3.1 modems and gateways, MaxLinear expects to be shipping in volume quantities by Q3 or Q4 of this year, with a more rapid acceleration in 2017, according to company CFO Adam Spice.
Among MSOs, Comcast has been the most aggressive with DOCSIS 3.1 early on. It has an “advanced consumer trial” of a DOCSIS 3.1-based 1-Gig (downstream) offering underway in Atlanta, and has identified Nashville, Chicago, Detroit and Miami as markets that will join the D3.1 mix in later this year.
MaxLinear is also looking to support multi-gigabit speeds on the home network by supporting MoCA 2.5, a next-gen Multimedia over Coax Alliance platform that will support up to 2.5 Gbps.
MaxLinear is also continues to bank on wireless, announcing yesterday that it is buying certain assets and IP tied to Broadcom’s wireless infrastructure backhaul business for $80 million in cash. That complements MaxLinear’s recent $21 million acquisition of Microsemi’s Broadband Wireless Division.
Seendripu said the Broadcom deal will add microwave and millimeter-wave backhaul modem capabilities, which will be combined with its microwave RF transceiver technologies.
For the quarter, MaxLinear posted net revenue of $102.7 million, up 4% from the previous quarter, and up 190% from the year-ago period. Q1 net income was $19.1 million, or 29 cents per share, versus a net loss of $4.7 million, or 12 cents per share, in Q1 2015.
