MediaTek

"In general, with MediaTek's help, we're able to achieve almost twice as fast time to market, compared to other solutions, " Mr. Wang said.

MediaTek is looking for a similar feat with more complicated smartphones and will launch its first smartphone chipset this year.

The key to the cheap phones was the combination of MediaTek's chipsets and the vast component bazaars of Shenzhen.

Still, breaking into the mobile phone market "was very difficult because people have never heard of MediaTek making mobile phone chips" .

Tsai Ming-kai, MediaTek chairman, sums up his company's ambitions as: "Whitebox today, mainstream tomorrow. "

Tiny companies would buy a Mediatek chip loaded with software, source other components and ask a factory to assemble them.

Those chips now account for 40 percent of MediaTek's smartphone chip sales, according to the company.

Mediatek started with CD drives for computers, and quickly moved on to chips for DVD players.

Workers at Mediatek, however, know a more personable Mr Tsai.

MediaTek plans to launch its first chips for smartphones soon.

As far as baseband shipment is concerned, Mediatek ranked first worldwide in 2009 and it continue its leadership in this respect in 2010.

Mediatek can play a big role in this process.

Cheap mobile phones based on chips from MediaTek, a company based in Taiwan, are increasingly popular in developing countries.

Of the 235 million chipsets MediaTek shipped last year, 140 million were bound for overseas.

Mediatek saw hundreds of Chinese phonemakers sign on in April alone when the company's smartphone chip was ready,

In 2004, MediaTek sold 3 million of its chips;