5G to grow strongly despite radio component shortages: Report

The market for radio components used in cellular user equipment grew in 2020 despite the pandemic and will continue to grow 8 percent per year through 2025, according to a new report.

The radio component revenue reached an all-time high in 2020 and strong growth will continue, according to latest research from Strategy Analytics.

The radio components include baseband processors, RF transceivers, power amplifiers, RF filters, switches, antenna tuners, drain modulators, tuners, and other RF front-end components.

"Despite the pandemic, RF component revenue, including baseband processors and the RF front-end (RFFE), reached an all-time high in 2020, and we predict that the cellular radio component market will grow 8 percent per year through 2025," said Christopher Taylor, Director of RF and Wireless Components at Strategy Analytics.

In the wake of stagnating device shipment growth and to help counter increasing radio complexity with 5G, "suppliers of RFFE component have continued to develop system-in-package modules with more capabilities, allowing companies to capture more RFFE content per design-win while making design and assembly of mobile phones easier for OEMs," he explained.

The on-going semiconductor shortages are likely to persist through 2022, validating strong underlying demand.

"However, mobile phone OEMs face supply constraints that could keep them from reaching full upside device sales potential this year," said Sravan Kundojjala, Associate Director, Handset Component Technologies.

Semiconductor foundries including TSMC, UMC, GlobalFoundries, SMIC, Samsung Foundry and compound semiconductor foundries have responded with efforts to increase capacity as quickly as possible.

Strategy Analytics predicts that "robust demand for both sub-6 and mmWave 5G RF components along with new 5G opportunities beyond smartphones will drive significant cellular radio component growth over the next few years," Kundojjala said.