5G is Growing Fast Thanks to COVID-19, Says Mobile Experts

In a recent announcement, Mobile Experts released an RRH Semiconductor Report that clocks the accelerating 5G system as it reportedly races toward a peak in 2021 and continued growth through 2025.

According to the 70-page report, Massive MIMO will be a major impetus for the RRHSEMI growth. The most significant beneficiary for the market growth is the Power Amplifier (specifically using GaN technology), but Filters and ASIC/FPGA solutions will also benefit, the report says.

“In addition to overall product growth, we expect to see significant focus on the domestic semiconductor supply chain in China,” said Dan McNamara, Principal Analyst, Mobile Experts. “The political climate between the US and China as well as effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to an increased push to ramp up internal suppliers but also a disruption to parts that cannot be exactly replicated in the short term.”

The report indicates that the sheer number of massive MIMO transceivers will drive a boost in the RF semiconductor market, though opportunities for individual suppliers could differ case by case due to uneven global deployment and regional strengths for each network OEM.

“RFSoCs, power amplifiers and filters will see shipments more than double from 2019 to 2021. We will see a strong 5G market overall through 2025. Despite a few pockets of uneven growth, the inclusion of Massive MIMO will leave the baseline market at a higher level overall, essentially double what we had in LTE days,” commented McNamara.

New to the RRH Semiconductor Report for 2020 is the inclusion of filter demand for both 5G and LTE systems. The analysis reportedly breaks down the technologies used (cavity, ceramic, and acoustic filter types) and the shipments of each as well as overall market value. To create estimates and forecasts, Mobile Experts says it relies on input from more than 40 industry sources, including top OEM vendors, mobile operators, and component suppliers. Mobile Experts used financial disclosures from publicly traded companies to assemble a quantitative view of the equipment market, and to establish estimates of the expected trends in the near future.