Revenue for RF GaN devices increased by slightly more than 23 percent in 2016, and demand is expected to grow, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics.
Growth in defense applications, particularly radar, communications and EW, will offset flat revenue from the wireless infrastructure segment. Strategy Analytics forecasts revenue for RF GaN devices will grow at a compound annual average growth rate of 14.1 percent to reach $733 million in 2021.
Eric Higham, the service director for Strategy Analytics’ Advanced Semiconductor Applications service, said,
LTE base station deployments in China have been the obvious growth driver for RF GaN revenue these past three years. As this activity winds down, infrastructure will remain a large and important segment, but the industry will need to position to take advantage of other applications and emerging 5G opportunities for growth.
Asif Anwar, director of Strategy Analytics’ Advanced Defense Systems service, added,
While the GaN supply chain looks for guidance on these future commercial opportunities, fast growth in defense applications will keep the overall market growth for GaN on an upwards trajectory. The question is can companies focused exclusively on domestic defense sectors take advantage of this growing global demand? These companies will need to understand how to better compete against commercial manufacturers, as well explore strategic options including partnerships or secondary manufacturing options.
Strategy Analytics’ report RF GaN Market Update: 2016 - 2021 provides an analysis of market trends for RF GaN and estimates the overall growth through 2021.
Strategy Analytics provides strategic and tactical support across the advanced semiconductor technology base to global clients through consulting and multi-country primary research.