{"id":1438,"date":"2018-03-10T22:40:38","date_gmt":"2018-03-10T22:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/athis-consulting.com\/news\/?p=1438"},"modified":"2018-08-12T12:25:37","modified_gmt":"2018-08-12T12:25:37","slug":"1438","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/athis-technologies.com\/news\/innovation\/wireless-telecom\/2018\/1438\/","title":{"rendered":"Cree, Wolfspeed, Infineon: SiC and GaN power and radio-frequency devices are key for 5G and transport electrification"},"content":{"rendered":"

Compound semiconductors are back. Several very important trends are pushing adoption of compound semiconductor devices in key industries. These include the emergence of fifth generation (5G) wireless networking protocols, autonomous driving and robotic cars, transport electrification and augmented and virtual reality (AR\/VR). These applications are pushing the adoption of 3D sensing, improved power module efficiencies and higher frequency communications. The key devices behind all these new developments are made from compound semiconductors.The latest announcements from Cree and Infineon on SiC materials, SiC power devices and GaN radio frequency (RF) devices are just the tip of the iceberg.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The biggest news in the SiC and GaN industry in the last two weeks must be Cree\u2019s announcement about Wolfspeed on its investor day on 26 February, 2018. Initially, in 2015 Cree had said that it would spin out its SiC power and GaN RF business, which was branded Wolfspeed. In 2016, it tentatively agreed to sell Wolfspeed to Infineon for $850M, including the SiC wafer business as well as the SiC power and GaN RF businesses. However, this move was blocked by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States in 2017.<\/p>\n

After the failure of the transaction, the company decided to \u201cshift our focus back to growing the Wolfspeed business\u201d. And now, on 26 February, Cree announced that it has pivoted and put more focus on Wolfspeed, which is now its most profitable, but smallest, business unit. The company forecasts that from $221M in revenue 2017, including Wolfspeed materials, SiC power devices and GaN RF devices, this business will become its largest unit in the next five years. To achieve that, Cree will continue to expand Wolfspeed, focusing most of its capital investments on it.<\/p>\n

Yole D\u00e9veloppement expects the RF power market to grow strongly in coming years, with increasing demand for telecom base station upgrades and small cell implementations<\/p>\n

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(Source:\u00a0RF GaN Market: Applications, Players, Technology and Substrates 2018-2023, Yole D\u00e9veloppement, January 2018)<\/em><\/p>\n

Overall market revenue could increase 75% between 2016 and the end of 2022, posting a 9.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during this period. This would be a change from US$1.5 billion in 2016 to more than US$2.5 billion in 2022. Today the market is standing at the threshold completing the 4G network, and then beginning the transition to 5G. There\u2019s still a lot to be settled and established, but some things are for sure. The new radio network will require more devices and higher frequencies. The total RF GaN market size will be a factor of 3.4 larger by the end of 2023, posting a 22.9% CAGR from 2017-2023. Chip providers therefore have a tremendous opportunity.<\/p>\n

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(Source:\u00a0RF GaN Market: Applications, Players, Technology and Substrates 2018-2023, Yole D\u00e9veloppement, January 2018)<\/em><\/p>\n

Cree is not joking about investing to seize the potential for the GaN RF devices for 5G. On March 6th, Cree announced that it would acquire the assets of Infineon\u2019s RF power business for approximately \u20ac345 million. The transaction includes:<\/p>\n