Glossary and definitions 2

Table of contents 3

Report objectives 6

Methodology 7

About the authors 8

List of companies 9

What we got right/what we got wrong 10

News/what has happened since last year? 13

Executive summary 18

Context 38

• Report scope
• Historical perspective
• What’s new? Products launches, collaborations, fundraising

Market forecasts 44

• GaN RF devices: Market size forecast 2019 – 2024
• GaN RF devices: Market breakdown
• GaN RF: Wafer volume forecast
• Wafer volume forecast: split by technology GaN-on-Si, GaN-on-SiC)

Market trends 48

• GaN RF market segmentation
• Telecom infrastructure
• Handset applications
• Defense applications
• Civil radar and avionics applications
• Wired broadband applications
• Satellite communications
• RF energy applications
• Technology and economic requirements
• GaN RF markets: Conclusions

Market share and supply chain 172

• Main RF players and their target applications
• Global industrial supply chain: GaN-on-SiC
• Global industrial supply chain: GaN-on-Si capability
• Global industrial supply chain: GaN-ondiamond
• GaN RF foundry: Technology comparison
• Covid-19 outbreak: Impacts on GaN RF industry
• GaN RF company profiles
• Impact of US-China conflict on GaN RF ecosystem
• GaN RF players: Market share

Technology trends 199

• RF component : Overview
• Classification of GaN RF technology: Split by technology
• Power density vs. frequency vs. gate length
• GaN front-end modules
• Commercially available GaN RF PA devices
• GaN RF technologies: Evolution
• GaN RF : Packaging
• GaN RF: Different substrate platforms
• GaN-on-diamond technology
• GaN-on-XX: Competitive analysis
• GaN-on-XX: HEMT technology analysis

General conclusions 245

• GaN-on-SiC vs. GaN-on-Si
• GaN RF industry: What are the main challenges as of Q1/2020?
• Application overviews: Key takeaway messages
• Outlook & prospects

Yole Développement presentation 250

TELECOM AND DEFENSE ARE DRIVING THE GaN RF MARKET

In the past few years, Radio Frequency (RF) applications have received a boost from the implementation of GaN technology. The main GaN RF market drivers remain telecom and defense applications. The total GaN RF market will increase from $740M to more than $2B by 2025, with a CAGR of 12%.

In telecom infrastructure, the aftermath of U.S. sanctions related to Huawei slowed the GaN based Remote Radio Head (RRH) market in 2019 and pushed OEMs to restructure their supply chain for the coming years. Nevertheless, GaN deployment will remain the same for the longterm. In Active Antenna Systems (AAS), the increase in bandwidth will favor increasing GaN implementation. Also, small cells and backhaul connections will see an impressive deployment of GaN in the coming years.

In military applications, with investments from governments to improve their national security by replacing Travelling Wave Tube (TWT)-based systems, defense will remain one of the GaN RF market’s main drivers. Radar is the main driver in military applications, mainly due to the increase of T/R modules in new GaN based Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) systems and stringent requirements for lightweight devices for airborne systems. The total GaN RF military market will surpass $1.1B in 2025, at a CAGR of 22%.

For handset, GaN’s high performance and small form factor could attract OEMs. The adoption of GaN PA will depend on the evolution over the next five years of GaN’s technology maturity, supply chain, and cost, as well as OEM strategies. What does the future hold for GaN PA in the handset market?

This report conveys Yole Développement’s (Yole) understanding of GaN implementation in different market segments. It also includes an extensive overview of 5G’s impact on the wireless infrastructure and RF Front Ends (FEs), along with the GaN-based military market. Furthermore, Yole shares its view of the market’s current dynamics and future evolution.

IN THE 5G TELECOM MARKET, WHAT IS GaN’S POSITIONING COMPARED TO LDMOS?

Since its first commercial products appeared 20 years ago, GaN technology has become a serious competitor to LDMOS and GaAs in RF power applications, showing continuous performance and reliability improvement at a lower cost. Following its penetration in the fourth generation (4G) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) telecom infrastructure market, GaN-on SiC is expected to maintain its strong position in 5G sub-6Hz RRH implementations. In the emerging segment of 5G sub-6Ghz AAS, massive multiple input, and multiple output (MIMO) deployments, the rivalry between GaN and LDMOS continues. While cost-efficient LDMOS technology carries on with noteworthy progress in high-frequency performance for sub6GHz, GaN-on-SiC offers remarkable bandwidth, PAE, and power output. Indeed, following the China Unicom and Telecom merger requiring >150MHz bandwidth, GaN has been a chosen technology in AAS. 5G telecom infrastructure is a very dynamic market requiring significant strategic decisions from OEMs, which could create new opportunities for GaN technology platforms.

In this context, GaN-on-Si stands as a potential challenger and promises cost-efficient, integrated solutions. Even though GaN-on-Si market volume remains tiny as of Q1/2020, technology developments at sub6GHz and mm-wave are closely followed and evaluated by telecom equipment vendors.

This report discusses GaN’s positioning amongst other competing technologies such as GaAs and LDMOS in the emerging 5G telecom markets. Also provided is an extensive overview of the value chain for different substrate platforms: SiC, Si, diamond, and bulk GaN, as well as discrete transistors, Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs), and Front-End Module (FEM)
technologies – with a special focus on advanced packaging aspects.

HOW IS THE GaN RF LANDSCAPE EVOLVING?

GaN-based commercial products and prototypes currently exist on SiC, Si, and diamond substrates, showing different technological maturities and thus varying value chain maturity. Numerous actors are involved in the well-established GaN-on-
SiC technology field with different business models. However, following America’s sanctions related to Huawei in Q2/2019, a short supply situation occurred, mainly in the GaN-based telecom infrastructure market. As a result, it will be important to watch how various strategic partnerships and investments unfold during 2020 – 2021. At the RF component level, market leaders Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations (SEDI) and II-VI plan to ramp up their vertically integrated 6-inch GaN-on-SiC wafer platforms to address the increasing demand from 5G. Additionally, leading compound semiconductor foundry Win Semiconductors expects to double its GaN RF capacity during 2020 – 2021.

Regarding the military segment, each country and region is individually strengthening its GaN RF ecosystem. In the U.S., Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon are driving GaN adoption. Meanwhile, UMS, SAAB, Airbus, Thales, and Leonardo are actively involved in Europe, while China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), a leading vertically integrated company, is boosting the Chinese GaN-based defense market. In the GaN-on-Si business, while the MACOM-ST consortium’s 6” fabrication line development is ongoing, French foundry OMMIC is offering GaN-on- Si MMIC technology for mm-wave markets. And that’s not all: in 2019, following its acquisition of EpiGaN, Soitec is considering entry into the 5G infrastructure and handset market with its own innovative GaN-on-Si technology.

One of the most exciting GaN-on-Si markets is undoubtedly 5G handset. As of Q1/2020, several actors are seriously developing this technology. How and when can GaN enter handsets? What are the associated challenges? Which OEM(s) will shape its future?

This report examines the GaN RF industry playground, covering the value chain for epitaxy, device, and module design on SiC, Si, and diamond substrates. Yole also shares its understanding of the market’s current dynamics and future evolution.

Aethercomm, Aixtron, Akash Systems, A.L.M.T, Ampleon, Anadigics, Arralis, AT&T, BAE Systems, Bell Laboratory, Cisco, CETC, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Cree, Custom MMIC, Dynax, DragonWave-X, Dowa, EADS, Enkris Semiconductor, EpiGaN, Ericsson, Eudyna, Freiburg/ Univ. Ulm/Fraunhofer IAF, Filtronic, Freescale, Fujitsu, Global Communication Semiconductors, HebeiKing Ceramic Electronic, Hiwafer, Huawei, II-VI Inc, IconicRF, IMEC, IMECAS Infineon, Integra Technologies, Intel, IQE, KDDI, KT, LG Plus, Lockheed Martin, M/A-COM, Microsemi, Mitsubishi Chemical, Mitsubishi Electric, Motorola, NEC, Newport Wafer Fab, Nitronex, Norstel, Nokia Networks, Northrop Grumman, Norsat, NTT, NTT DOCOMO, NXP, OMMIC, Powdec, Qorvo, Qualcomm, RFHIC, RF Lambda, RFMD, Samsung, San’an Optoelectronics, SICC, SiCrystal, SK Telecom, Soitec, Sprint, STMicroelectronics, Sumitomo Electric, SweGaN, Raytheon, TagoreTech, TankeBlue, Telstra, Thales, Thales III-V Lab, T-Mobile, Toshiba, Transcom, TriQuint, UMS, Unity telecom, Verizon, Vodafone, Wavice, WavePIA, Win Semiconductors, Wolfspeed, ZTE and more.