Akoustis, an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, has secured its first 5G mobile design victory from a Tier-1 RF component industry client. As a component of a significant chipset OEM reference design, the XBAW filter is included in a new multiplexer product that is anticipated to launch in the first half of the calendar year 2023.
The filter solution leverages one of Akoustis’ new wafer-level packages (WLP), developed and manufactured in its Canandaigua, New York, fab. The new XBAW design is being used to address difficult coexistence issues between 5G midbands and WiFi 6E (5 to 7 GHz) bands. The customer is considering additional applications for XBAW in future modules for 5G smartphones, tablets, wearables, and other mobile devices after the successful completion of this first solution. Akoustis began shipping pre-production chips against customer purchase orders for development, sampling, and qualification during the quarter ending December 31, 2022.
The new Akoustis filter solution is the first product to ship with the internally developed and manufactured WLP. In response to global supply chain challenges, Akoustis has been developing proprietary WLP technology in its New York facility for the past year and is rapidly growing its manufacturing capacity to target the 5G mobile device market with its XBAW filter products.
Jeff Shealy, founder and CEO of Akoustis, stated, “This is a significant milestone in the commercialization of our XBAW technology." "This is our first design win for the 5G mobile market that is planned to ramp production in the first half of CY2023, supporting selectivity demands in the 3 to 7 GHz 5G/WiFi spectrum. Further, it is our first product that leverages our new proprietary wafer-level package technology, which is significantly smaller than our current packages and superior in back-end manufacturing cost. This is the culmination of significant effort by our team and tremendous advancement of our technology over the past year.”
Akoustis continues to experience demand and a growing sales funnel for its Wi-Fi, 5G mobile, and 5G infrastructure products, including CBRS XBAW filters, as well as its new XBAW and RFMi resonator and oscillator products. During the December quarter, the company shipped multiple samples of its new 5G XBAW wafers, complete with its new, advanced wafer-level packaging (WLP) technology. Akoustis continues to add new Wi-Fi design wins, many of which are expected to ramp into production in calendar year 2023.
Akoustis is actively delivering volume production of its Wi-Fi 6 tandem filter solutions, shipping multiple 5G small cell XBAW filter solutions, and delivering initial designs of its new 5G mobile filter solutions to multiple customers and is now entering the market with its new Wi-Fi 6E coexistence XBAW filter solutions. To date, Akoustis has received more than 20 customer design wins for its patented XBAW filter solutions.
Given the rapidly growing sales funnel activity, as well as ongoing interaction with customers regarding expected ramps in 5G mobile, Wi-Fi 6, and Wi-Fi 6E in calendar 2023, the Company is completing the annual production capacity increase at its New York fab to approximately 0.5 billion filters per year.
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