Akoustis Adds First CBRS Customer With Purchase Order For BAW RF Filters

• New Customer, New Filter, New Market Synergistic With 5G Wireless
• Filter Solution to Support High Speed 3.6 GHz Wireless Access Networks

Charlotte, NC (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), a manufacturer of patented single-crystal bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications announced today it has received a purchase order from a Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) customer for RF filters supporting wireless networks and customer premise equipment (CPE).

Under the new purchase order, Akoustis will develop and deliver 3.6 GHz BAW RF filters for the CBRS band for testing and qualification. The Company plans to deliver the filters in the first quarter of calendar 2019 and expects to receive commercial orders for qualified product later in 2019.

Today’s announcement marks the first CBRS BAW RF filter order Akoustis has received. The new filter will be developed and manufactured in the Company’s Canandaigua, NY fabrication facility using Akoustis’ new proprietary XB1 single-crystal BAW manufacturing process. The Company’s single crystal RF BAW technology was chosen for this development contract over existing options due to the advantage of providing an ultra-small form factor, wide bandwidth, surface mount BAW filter solution that meets the higher power requirements and low insertion loss necessary for CPE systems. The customer is developing CBRS customer premise equipment but will evaluate the filter performance for inclusion in infrastructure equipment as well as CPE.

Jeff Shealy, Founder and CEO of Akoustis Technologies, said, “The CBRS market represents another untapped market for our high-performance, high frequency BAW RF filters, and we are excited to take the lead in this developing market. The CBRS band will enable carriers, enterprises and others to deliver novel connectivity solutions and to enhance existing and emerging networks.” Mr. Shealy continued, “This CBRS filter opportunity is synergistic with our other 5G product developments at Akoustis and we expect the CBRS filter market will be meaningful over the next several years.”

The CBRS band consists of 150 MHz shared spectrum covering 3.55 to 3.7 GHz that has been earmarked for access by the FCC. Initial deployments within the CBRS bands have been with LTE, with the expectation that most will transition to 5G cellular over time. The bands will enable existing carriers to provide last-mile data service and augment individual networks. In addition, it will enable enterprises to deliver campus-wide communications and create secure IoT networks. Since there are no other micro filter solutions in the market that can target the CBRS frequencies, it is a greenfield opportunity for Akoustis using its proprietary and patented XBAW technology.

“This purchase order for CBRS opens up an entirely new market for Akoustis, one which aligns with the emerging 5G mobile frequencies,” stated VP of Business Development, Dave Aichele. “While the initial order is for development of a single CBRS CPE filter, we expect to transition to volume production next year and have a long, successful relationship with this new customer.”

About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
Akoustis® (http://www.akoustis.com) is a high-tech BAW RF filter solutions company that is pioneering next-generation materials science to address the market requirements for improved RF filters - targeting higher bandwidth, higher operating frequencies and higher output power compared to incumbent polycrystalline BAW technology deployed today. The Company utilizes its proprietary XBAW single-crystal BAW manufacturing process to produce bulk acoustic wave RF filters for mobile and other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back end. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of high-purity, single crystal piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology which drives electro-mechanical coupling and translates to wide filter bandwidth.

The Company plans to service the fast growing multi-billion-dollar market of device OEMs, network providers, and consumers to diminish front end phone heat, battery drain and signal loss -- all considered to be directly related to current RF polycrystalline filter technologies' limitations. The Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq. ft. ISO-9001 certified commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a class 100 / class 1000 cleanroom facility - tooled for 150-mm diameter wafers - for the design, development, fabrication and packaging of RF filters, MEMS and other semiconductor devices. Akoustis Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in the Piedmont technology corridor near Charlotte, North Carolina.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the “safe harbor” created by those sections. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans or strategies for the future (including our possible future results of operations, business strategies, competitive position, potential growth opportunities, potential market opportunities and the effects of competition), and the assumptions underlying such statements. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and typically are identified by use of terms such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," “intend,” “forecast,” “seek,” "potential," "continue" and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, these forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated include, without limitation, risks relating to the results of our research and development activities, including uncertainties relating to semiconductor process manufacturing; the development of our XBAWTM technology and products presently under development and the anticipated timing of such development; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights that are valuable to our business, including patent and other intellectual property rights; our ability to successfully market and sell products based on our technologies; the ability to achieve qualification of our products for commercial manufacturing in a timely manner and the size and growth of the potential markets for any products so qualified; the rate and degree of market acceptance of any of our products; and our ability to raise funding to support operations and the continued development and qualification of our products and the technologies underlying them. These and other risks and uncertainties are described in more detail in the Part I, Item 1A - Risk Factors of the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Considering these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances discussed in this press release may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking statements included in this press release speak only as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly or privately any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, for any reason after the date of this press release to conform these statements to new information, actual results or to changes in our expectations.

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