GaAs IC Market to reach $8 billion in 2017
PA pricing to increase to $3.50 with LTE and AWS
A new market research report "˜The GaAs IC Market' by Information Network forecasts that the GaAs IC market will reach $8 billion in 2017.
The most important driver of the GaAs RF IC market is power amplifiers (PAs) and switches in the front-end of the handsets. 3G handsets often contain up to five PAs, and GaAs makes up 100 percent of the market, which is close to $5 billion.
According to the report, the number of PAs per handset is growing because of: complex 3G systems, global roaming support, and data roaming support. Pricing for PAs has increased from $0.80 per handset to $2.90 currently and is projected to increase to greater than $3.50 once Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum emerge in advanced handsets in the marketplace.
While industrialised countries are using 3G networks, today's world is a mixture of 2/2.5G and 3G networks, the heavy majority of subscribers are actually on 2G-based networks - and predicted to remain so for a number of years.
Between 70 to 80 percent of Skyworks' and RF Micro Device's GaAs business is in PAs. 2G handsets contain one PA, so it represents a sizable market. Because they aren't as technologically advanced as 3G cell phones, particularly smartphones, silicon is making inroads in the GaAs domain. For 2013, only 90 percent of PAs were made in GaAs, 5 percent in silicon CMOS, and 5 percent in silicon LDMOS.
This report, available from Reportbuyer.com, investigates the technology trends, applications, and market developments of GaAs ICs. US Japanese, and European applications such as telecom, computers, defense, consumers, are also reviewed.
