ABI Research’s optimistic forecasts for the penetration of high powered RF integrated circuits into the mobile wireless base station market continue to be borne out by the latest market developments, which project more than 10 million high power RFIC units will be shipped in 2011.

According to Mobile Networks Research Director Lance Wilson, “Compared to the discrete devices they can replace, high-power RFICs take up less circuit board space, are easier to use, and cost the same or slightly less.”

This new breed of high powered RFICs is primarily intended for use in base stations for cellular and other wireless infrastructure. Although conventional wisdom suggests relatively modest and stable growth for these chips, for several years they have been taking an increasingly significant share of the market. ABI Research expects that the pace of this market adoption will only increase over time. The role of high-power RFICs is also changing as the explosion in wireless data continues.

The rate of growth in shipment numbers and revenue are expected to move upward between 2011 and 2016. Both will show a solid single digit compound annual growth rate for the five-year forecast period. By far, the lion’s share of these revenues will go to just three large vendors.

ABI Research’s recent report, “High-Power RFICs,” identifies the factors driving the RFIC market, discusses the device technologies and the vendor landscape, explains this technology’s disruptive potential, and contains new, accelerated forecasts.