RF front-end is one of the core modules widely used in wireless communication devices such as mobile phone cellular communication (2G/3G/4G/5G), Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, ZigBee communication, etc. It is mainly composed of RF front-end chips such as power amplifier chip (PA), low noise amplifier chip (LNA), RF Switch chip (Switch) and Filter chip, which has broad industry prospects.
Market size of RF front-end chips
The RF front-end chip industry is widely used in mobile intelligent terminals, and its strategic position is gradually improved. China's RF front-end chip industry is welcoming huge development opportunities, and its market share in the global market is expected to increase significantly. Driven by the vigorous development of related emerging fields and the strong support of national policies, the market size of RF front-end chips in China will reach 91.44 billion yuan in 2022. It is predicted that the market scale of RF front-end chips in China will continue to grow at a high speed in 2023, which is expected to reach 97.57 billion yuan.
Figure1: 2018-2023 China RF front-end chip market size and forecast
Development trend of RF front-end chips
1. In terms of industrial policies, the integrated circuit industry has received more support and encouragement, and the development of the industry is in the ascendant
The integrated circuit industry is the foundation and core of the modern information industry, serving as a strategic, foundational, and pioneering industry supporting the development of the national economy and society. It holds significant strategic importance for the healthy development of the national economy in recent years, with the transformation of national economy to high-quality development stage, the strategic significance of integrated circuit industry for national economic development has been paid attention to, and the development of integrated circuit industry has attracted more and more attention from the society. The government has promulgated industry policies and regulations for many times to encourage the development of integrated circuit industry from financial support, tax incentives and personnel training.
2.The trend of domestic substitution and localization services for RF front-end chips is on the rise
SKYWORKS and QORVO, as the world's leading RF front-end enterprises, have a long operating history and obvious competitive advantages in terms of income scale, technology accumulation, market position and talent reserve. At the same time, through capital operation and enterprise mergers and acquisitions, they have complete product line layout and strong product competitiveness in various application fields. Domestic RF front-end manufacturers in China started late, and there is still a big gap between domestic RF front-end manufacturers and overseas manufacturers in terms of technical level and comprehensive strength. At present, overseas manufacturers such as SKYWORKS and QORVO still dominate the RF front-end fields such as cellular mobile communication, Wi-Fi communication and Internet of Things communication.
From an industry perspective, as a national strategic industry, the development of integrated circuits in China is imminent; From the perspective of downstream enterprises, domestic electronic product manufacturers are also aware of the importance of chip supply chain, and begin to gradually reduce their dependence on imported chips and overseas technologies, and actively promote the localization of chips, which brings new substitution opportunities for domestic chip designers.
3. The iterative upgrade of wireless communication technology and the continuous expansion of downstream fields have promoted the continuous growth of RF front-end chip market
RF front-end is the core component of wireless communication equipment. Users' pursuit of high-speed, large-capacity and low-delay communication experience promotes Wi-Fi technology to continuously evolve and iterate in the direction of improving transmission speed and expanding data transmission volume. The improvement of Wi-Fi transmission speed, on the one hand, obtains greater bandwidth by expanding the use of higher frequency band resources. For example, Wi-Fi6E supports 6GHz frequency band; On the other hand, through MU-MIMO technology, that is, by increasing the number of channels at the transmitter and receiver, the data transmission volume and transmission rate can be further improved.
Figure2: Wi-Fi technology
With the increase of communication frequency band and the increase of transmitting and receiving links, the number of RF front-end devices needs to be increased accordingly. Therefore, every iterative upgrade of wireless communication technology will greatly increase the number and value of RF front-end devices.
In the downstream application field of Wi-Fi, the rise of new fields such as wireless communication equipment, mobile terminal and smart home brings broad market opportunities for Wi-Fi RF front-end chips. Under the joint action of new technologies, new demands, new formats and new scenarios, the global RF front-end chip market will usher in rapid growth.
4. The domestic integrated circuit industry chain is constantly improving, and chip design enterprises are facing a better development environment
In recent years, with the support of national policies and the promotion of capital, domestic wafer manufacturing capacity and packaging and testing manufacturers have achieved certain development. In 2020, the sales scale of China's integrated circuit packaging and testing industry ranks first in the world, accounting for 63.08% of the global semiconductor packaging and testing industry. The technology has strong international competitiveness, and a number of internationally competitive packaging and testing manufacturers such as JCET Group and HT-Tech Technology have emerged.
At the same time, in the field of manufacturing the second generations semiconductor gallium arsenide wafer, which is commonly used in RF front-end chips, there are also excellent local enterprises such as SANAN Integrated Circuit. The continuous improvement of China's integrated circuit industry chain and the development of wafer manufacturing, packaging and testing industries have provided a high-quality development environment for China's integrated circuit design industry, and created favorable conditions for ensuring the diversification of supplier sources and ensuring the stability of the supply chain.
Analysis of the Market Size and Development Trends of the RF Front-end Chip Market in China in 2023-China.exportsemi.com
