According to a new report on RF switches from Strategy Analytics, internal production by major users has undermined the traditional merchant market for GaAs PHEMT switches.
In this new report, “STRATEGY ANALYTICS: RF Switch Vendors Face Captive Producers and CMOS,” Strategy Analytics notes that RFMD, the largest user of RFIC switches, now produces its own GaAs switch dice for use in power amplifier front-end modules for wireless handsets.
According to Asif Anwar, director of the Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor program, “GaAs switch vendors also face the challenge of silicon RFIC switches, particularly Peregrine Semiconductor’s CMOS SoS RF switches, which have made inroads in handsets that require switches, intermediate in complexity between PIN diodes and multi-throw GaAs PHEMT switches.”
Christopher Taylor, director, RF and Wireless Components for Strategy Analytics and author of the report, adds, “The good news is that multiple niche markets for high performance RF switches have continued to grow at healthy rates, which has helped specialty RF switch suppliers such as Hittite and Mimix Broadband.”