The burgeoning sales of smartphones in both developed and developing countries are driving the demand for radio frequency (RF) semiconductors across the world. Emerging economies such as India, Pakistan, China, Nigeria, and Indonesia are witnessing a sharp surge in smartphone usage, on account of the rising internet penetration, soaring disposable income of people, and increasing urbanization rate. According to the Global System for Mobile Communications Association’s Mobile Economy 2020 report, in APAC, smartphone usage will rise from 64% of the total population to 81% from 2019 to 2025.
The other major factor driving the expansion of the RF semiconductor market is the growing adoption of the internet of things (IoT) technology in various operations. IoT assists in building an interconnected framework of physical things such as smart systems through secure networks with the help of RF technologies. For instance, RF transceivers are incorporated in smart home systems for connecting with the internet using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. In addition to this, the surging number of smart city projects in various countries is also augmenting the requirement for smart devices.
Besides, the rapid technological advancements being made in wireless communication are also fueling the sales of RF semiconductors across the world. Due to these factors, the revenue of the market will surge from $2.1 billion in 2019 to $5.0 billion by 2030. According to the estimates of the market research company, P&S Intelligence, the market will advance at a CAGR of 8.8% from 2020 to 2030. Gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphate (InP), silicon (Si), silicon-germanium (SiGe), and gallium nitride (GaN) are the most commonly used types of RF semiconductor materials.
Out of these, the demand for GaAs RF semiconductors was found to be the highest during the last few years, primarily due to their less power dissipation, lower power consumption, high efficiency, and high voltage and temperature tolerance than the other RF semiconductors. Power amplifiers, low-noise amplifiers (LNA), switches, tuners, and filters are the main components used in RF semiconductors. Out of these, the demand for power amplifiers was observed to be the highest in 2019.
This was ascribed to the fact that power amplifiers are one of the essential components of telecommunication and consumer electronic devices. Moreover, the surging demand for tablets, smartphones, laptops, surveillance systems, gaming consoles, IoT devices, and networking equipment and the increasing infrastructural development activities are propelling the sales of power amplifiers. Across the world, the demand for RF semiconductors was the highest in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in the years gone by.
This trend is also predicted to continue in the forthcoming years, mainly because of the growing usage of wireless communication devices, soaring popularity of the IoT technology, burgeoning requirement for video streaming, and rapid digitization of various business operations in the region. On the other hand, North America is expected to be the fastest growing region in the RF semiconductor market in the upcoming years, mainly because of the increasing internet penetration and surging adoption of the 5G technology in the region.
Hence, it is safe to say that the demand for RF semiconductor will surge sharply in the coming years, primarily because of the increasing usage of smartphones, growing 5G deployment, and soaring adoption of the IoT technology across the world.
