Mobile Experts recently released a new collection of 5-year forecasts for the semiconductors required by the Remote Radio Heads (RRH) industry that address shipments, revenue, pricing, architecture, and market share for LDMOS and GaN power transistors, ADCs and DACs, as well as RF components and Remote Radio Heads (RRH). The report also details the evolution of FPGAs and ASICs to SoC components for Massive MIMO.
Mobile Experts reports that the RRH architecture is changing and the impact on the RF devices will be profound. As processor vendors look to integrate ADCs and DACs to reduce power consumption, the ADC/DAC vendors are looking to integrate with RF devices (quad modulators, amplifiers, and DPD) to reduce power and size. Each OEM will choose between new integrated modules which will change the competitive landscape.
The market is declining as LTE deployment slows down around the world. No one wants to see a downslope on their revenue chart, but their research brings good news for RF component vendors. Mobile Experts see new growth on the horizon for semiconductors in mobile infrastructure. Massive MIMO is coming to the LTE market, and 5G will add significant shipments of radio systems. 5G will reinvigorate the market.
Mobile Experts explains in the report that the new growth will not be a 'surge' as we saw in the 4G market, but instead there will be healthy but gradual growth as each country takes their time deploying the new technologies.
Overall, 5G will increase the dollar content devoted to power transistors, ADCs/DACs, and processors due to massive MIMO and the wide bandwidth of the 5G signal. The number of transceivers will increase to deliver 16T16R and 64T64R radios, and the expensive wideband radio components will put some profit back into this market.
