The growing adoption of gallium nitride (GaN) technology in RF applications, coupled with the widespread deployment of LTE base stations in China drove an increase in RF GaN revenue of nearly 50 percent in 2015. The Strategy Analytics Advanced Semiconductor Applications (ASA) service report, “RF GaN Market Update: 2015 - 2020,” indicates that the growth in the base station segment pushed the commercial portion of the RF GaN revenue to more than 60 percent of the total in 2015. This report concludes that continuing growth in base station and defense applications will propel RF GaN revenue to nearly $690 million in 2020.
Eric Higham, Service Director, Advanced Semiconductor Applications service commented - The performance advantages of GaN fit nicely with the requirements of new LTE base station power amplifiers. Despite an anticipated decline in the base station power market, they anticipate that GaN revenue will increase as more equipment manufacturers switch over to the technology.
Asif Anwar, Service Director, Advanced Defense Systems service added - As countries undertake new platform builds and retrofits, RF GaN revenue in defense applications will grow faster than the overall market, bringing it on par with commercial RF GaN revenue by 2020.
