Mobile Experts released a report on Semiconductors for Remote Radio Heads, including a new long-term outlook for macro base stations. The analysis is rendered in 30 clear charts and diagrams, and explained in 61 pages of analysis. The research and vision from this leading team of professionals predicts the future after China Mobile in the macro base station market. Principal Analyst Joe Madden comments, "The current market surge for China Mobile has pushed the RF semiconductor industry to its limit. RF devices have delayed base station deployment in a significant way over the past year. As we visualize the long-term market, we see very different dynamics with other operators which will drive changes to the design and the bandwidth requirements for Remote Radio Heads."

Mobile Experts has interviewed more than 35 companies and collected shipment data from numerous semiconductor suppliers, in order to provide an accurate picture of radio head deployment and new design approaches.

Related Resources

RF Power Sensor: LBSF09A
CMTA Software for Signaling Testers MD8475A/B
EV Charging Management Optimized
Bandwidth Semiconductor

This fresh report includes several block diagrams and pricing analysis for each component to illustrate the new direction of base station architecture. In particular, the company's mobile experts have been able to identify opportunities for FPGAs, ASICs and SoCs in the RRH, isolated opportunities for GaN and LDMOS devices, and split up the market according to RF bandwidth requirements for ADC and DAC vendors. The market study includes:

  • Forecasts for worldwide base station deployment;
  • Predictions of the future for TD-LTE and LTE-FDD;
  • How OEMs will support the range of 10MHz to 200 MHz spectrum blocks;
  • Analysis of Digital Predistortion (DPD) and Analog Predistortion techniques;
  • Analysis of Doherty amplifier use and integration;
  • Pricing, market share, and forecasts for:
    • ASICs, FPGAs, SoCs, and DSP/ASSPs;
    • Secondary or Companion Processors;
    • Power Transistors including LDMOS, GaAs, and GaN;
    • Data Converters including DACs and ADCs;
    • Quadrature Modulators including AQMs and discretes;
    • Phase Locked Loops (PLLS), VCOs, and Small Signal RF Components;

 Mr. Madden continued, "Mobile Experts correctly predicted the strong base station market for 2013 and 2014, but the tide is changing again and we have a new long-term outlook. Semiconductor vendors will need to stay on their toes to stay profitable in turbulent waters."