The radio frequency (RF) semiconductor market is projected to reach a value of $5.0 billion in 2030, from $2.1 billion in 2019, exhibiting an 8.8% CAGR during the forecast period (2020–2030). The market is growing primarily because of the surging deployment of the IoT technology, increasing demand for smartphones, and rising adoption of mobile communication technologies including 5G and 4G. On the basis of component, the market is categorized into switches, power amplifiers, filters, low noise amplifiers, and tuners.
Out of these, the power amplifiers category contributed the largest revenue share to the global RF semiconductor market in 2019. These are among the key components of telecommunications and consumer electronics equipment. Owing to this, the rising demand for gaming consoles, laptops, tablets, smartphones, networking equipment, surveillance systems, and IoT devices are resulting in the increasing demand for power amplifiers. In addition to this, the swift infrastructural development in a number of countries is also predicted to drive the growth of this category during the forecast period.
Based on application, the market is divided into satellite communications, consumer electronics, aerospace & defense, and IT & telecommunications, among which, the IT & telecommunications application held the major share of the market during the historical period (2014–2019). The surging consumption of data globally is leading to the high requirement for the upgradation of telecommunication networks. The division is then projected to lead the market during the forecast period due to the expanding mobile devices sector and increasing number of 5G deals.
Geographically, the RF semiconductor market is being dominated by the Asia-Pacific region at the present time because of the increasing demand for smartphones and rising deployment of 5G in several countries, including South Korea, China, and Japan. Other than this, North America is expected to exhibit the highest CGAR during the forecast period. The surging penetration of internet, increased adoption of smartphones, and rising 5G deployment are resulting in the growth of the regional market.
The surging demand and adoption of smartphones all across the globe is one of the primary driving factors of the RF semiconductor market. After the initial introduction of smartphones, their demands grew rapidly in developed countries, and now their adoption has been increasing considerably in emerging economies as well. The urbanization rate and spending power of people in countries including India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Nigeria are growing rapidly, which in turn, are resulting in the growing demand for smartphones.
A major trend being witnessed in the RF semiconductor market is the growing integration of AI. The technology is helping businesses expand by improving customer experience and is also allowing predictive maintenance for enhancing network reliability. AI can decrease the design complexities of RF semiconductor devices by making use of machine learning algorithms. These algorithms can further be utilized for optimizing RF parameters such as spectrum monitoring, antenna sensitivity, and channel bandwidth. Such enhancements in RF semiconductor devices is projected to result in the growth of the domain.
In conclusion, the rising demand for smartphones and increasing integration of AI are resulting in the growth of the market.
