Skyworks Solutions Inc increased its share of the market for RF power amplifiers (PAs) used in cellular terminals in 2011 and first-half 2012, increasing its lead on second-ranked RF Micro Devices Inc and most other suppliers, according to the report ‘Cellular PA and RF Front-End Module Market Share: 2011 and 1H 2012’ from market research firm Strategy Analytics. The report outlines unit shipments, PA revenue and developments over the past 18 months for the top ten suppliers of cellular PAs (as well as breaking out estimated shipments by air interface).
“The PA market has shifted toward multi-mode, multi-band PAs and complete front-end platform solutions aligned with the leading chipsets,” says Christopher Taylor, director of the Strategy Analytics RF & Wireless Components market research service. “This has favored Skyworks, RFMD, Avago, TriQuint and Murata, and has made competing more difficult for PA suppliers that lack filters, duplexers, RF switches and modules that combine these with PAs,” he adds.
“For the first time, we are now seeing CMOS PAs for W-CDMA register in the market share rankings, and a more realistic assessment by CMOS suppliers on how to compete with GaAs,” comments Eric Higham, director of the Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Conductor market research service.
