Spending on RF high-power semiconductors for the wireless infrastructure markets flattened out this year, despite the fact that the overall market hit well over $1.5 billion in 2015. While certain market and sub-market segments are showing moderate growth, it is Gallium Nitride (GaN) that is capturing meaningful market share of RF high-power semiconductors, especially in wireless infrastructure.
GaN is increasing its market share in 2016, and ABI Research believe it will be a significant force by 2021. It has now transitioned to a mainstream technology that bridges the gap between GaAs and LDMOS.
Outside of wireless infrastructures in the RF high-power semiconductor business, defense-oriented market segments show the strongest performance. Despite the poor press for defense-oriented electronic hardware, the actual performance in 2015 was better than originally thought for some sub-segments. These defense-oriented segments are expected to be of significant market size moving forward.
These findings are from ABI Research’s RF Power Semiconductors. This report is part of the company’s Semiconductor sector, which includes research, data, and analyst insights.