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Skyworks challenges RFMD for GaAs leadership

By chipping away at the cell phone power amplifier market and also taking share from smaller players, Skyworks Solutions has drawn level with RF Micro Devices as the industry's top supplier of GaAs devices.

Skyworks Solutions has taken market share from RF Micro Devices (RFMD) as the industry's two biggest suppliers of GaAs devices fight out the number-one spot.

According to a report from the analyst firm Strategy Analytics, Skyworks and RFMD are now neck-and-neck, each holding a 20% market share.

Asif Anwar, director of GaAs research at Strategy Analytics, told Compoundsemiconductor.net that the total GaAs device market, including MMICs, discretes and digital ICs, grew 9% in 2004 to reach $2.9 billion.

That growth was largely fueled by the bumper year for cell phone handsets, with GaAs device revenue from this sector rising 20%.

By taking some power amplifier (PA) market share away from RFMD, as well as making gains from some of the smaller GaAs players, Skyworks saw its own GaAs device revenue grow 31% year-on-year.

Although Anwar still believes RFMD to be the biggest GaAs PA supplier, he expects Skyworks to continue chipping away at this lead. Skyworks is said to hold an advantage because of the expertise in modules, as well as digital, RF and mixed signal silicon, that it inherited from Conexant.

RFMD, on the other hand, has had to rely more on external foundry relationships for key process technologies such as PHEMT for switches.

TriQuint remains the third-biggest supplier of GaAs devices, thanks largely to its broader product portfolio and its foundry operation.

According to Anwar, Japanese GaAs device suppliers have lost out to the top-tier US companies in the large Asian markets of China and Taiwan.

All GaAs suppliers will have to deal with slower growth this year, however. Along with other market analysts, Anwar is expecting only 8% growth in cellular handsets in 2005.

"The challenge now is for both companies to ride out slower growth...and to develop new products for new markets if there is to be a clear winner in the marketplace."

Those new markets include dual-band wireless LAN and potentially WiMAX "“ provided the latter uses a GaAs-friendly operating wavelength. Some momentum is also returning to the fiber-optic market for GaAs ICs, added Anwar.

The report "All change at the top as Skyworks topples RF Micro Devices" is available from Strategy Analytics

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