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News

25 July 2007

 

RFMD ships 100 millionth WCDMA cellular front end

RF Micro Devices of Greensboro, NC, USA says it has become the wireless industry’s first company to ship 100 million WCDMA cellular front ends for 3G handsets. RFMD attributes the milestone to continued strong sales of 3G multimode handsets.

“Demand for cellular front ends in 3G multimode handsets is growing significantly faster than the handset market, as 3G handsets proliferate and as new 3G bands are added,” says Eric Creviston, corporate VP of RFMD’s cellular products group.

In the June quarter, RFMD’s WCDMA front end revenue significantly outpaced the rate of growth of the handset market, and the firm is booked for sequential growth in WCDMA front end revenue in the September quarter of greater than 50%.

RFMD forecasts that the 3G multimode market will exceed 580m handsets by 2011, reflecting a five-year compound annual growth rate of about 51%. Also, RFMD estimates that the average 3G multimode handset will support about 2.7 UMTS frequency bands by 2011.

Dollar content for RFMD is being driven by 3G multimode devices (which include a GPRS/EDGE path and at least one UMTS path, both of which require PA-based front end solutions and associated complementary RF components). As 3G multimode devices proliferate and as the number of bands increases to support multiple regions, the market for cellular front ends and complementary components in 3G multimode handsets is expected to significantly outpace the rate of growth of cellular handsets. In addition, an increasing proportion of 3G multimode handsets also include WiFi capability (RFMD also supplies wireless LAN front ends for WiFi-enabled handsets).

See related items:

RFMD’s revenues fall 11%, but forecasts 9-16% bounceback this quarter

RFMD expands Beijing assembly facility’s capabilities

RFMD breaks $1bn annually, but Motorola inventory correction depresses March and June quarters

RFMD prices $350m private placement; fiscal-year revenue to exceed $1bn, but forecasts slowdown next quarter

Visit: http://www.rfmd.com