This just in....

In the "so what's new" category, EETimes reports on a Frost and Sullivan report on RF semiconductors:

Semiconductor suppliers must use the latest technology and add functionality to their products but at the same time keep costs under check.

"RF semiconductor companies will have to design devices that improve the talk time, power characteristics, and overall performance of the RF section in handsets, and support high integration levels that enable the creation of single chip radios and integration of RF and baseband in the future. RF companies are under pressure to invest heavily in process technologies and design mechanisms that make it possible to develop such solutions," said Deepa Doraiswamy, an analyst for Frost & Sullivan.

Intensifying competition, higher customer expectations, and shorter design cycles will force semiconductor manufacturers to develop scalable solutions with advanced power control features and interfaces, the study said.


This has certainly been the case for the dozen or so years I've been in the wireless space and is only accellerating. I also find it interesting to refer to the RF semiconductor business in terms of only (I assume cellular) handsets. I forecast that unit volumes and revenues of non-core cellular RF semiconductors will easily eclipse cellphone chip sales towards the end of the decade.