Rockchip, Allwinner challenging global chipmakers

Two Chinese companies scarcely known outside their home country have amassed almost one-third of the market for tablet chips in less than a half-decade - creating headaches for top semiconductor makers led by Intel Corp.

Rockchip Electronics Co and Allwinner Technology Co increased sales from a combined 0.3 percent of the market for tablet computer processors in 2010 to more than 27 percent just three years later.

Their Asian predecessors such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Samsung Electronics, took decades to develop the expertise and scale to make an impact. These Chinese upstarts, by contrast, skyrocketed through the rankings by taking the kinds of risks nimbler companies can afford, and by relying on chip designs from United Kingdom's ARM Holdings Plc.