Whopping Growth In The Small Cell Semiconductor Market

Mobile Experts publishes its detailed industry review of chips

Campbell, CA /PRNewswire/ -- The Mobile Experts Semiconductor for Small Cells market study is officially available for 2015. Extensive research shows that small cell shipments are doubling and tripling in multiple categories this year; market growth will be 62% in 2015, but up to 500% in one important market segment. MIMO, Carrier Aggregation, LAA/LWA, and multi-mode requirements are making small cells more intricate, and driving up the dollar content for semiconductors in each unit.

"The market is breaking out with deployments 20,000 units at a time," explained Joe Madden, Principal Analyst at Mobile Experts. "Last year, deployments were happening 50-100 at a time, so progress this year is truly remarkable."

"Two chipset suppliers have risen to the top as the market blasts off, but other SoC suppliers will take their places with ongoing growth in additional market segments. Because most small cells include multiple bands, MIMO, and an evolving collection of unlicensed radios, the semiconductor dollar value in a typical small cell is increasing. In fact, we predict that the number of radio transceivers per small cell will increase to an average of 3.7 by 2020. That's a 1.1 billion-dollar bag of transceivers, power amplifiers, linearization, filters, and OCXOs to make it all work."

For the first time, Mobile Experts is reporting market share information for SoCs, transceivers, power amplifiers, filters, and OCXOs. After years of anticipation in a lumpy field-trial market, the numbers are now big enough for market share data to be meaningful.

From 2012 to 2014, Mobile Experts predicted that 2015 would mark the beginning of major growth for small cells. Actual semiconductor shipments through September 2015 confirm that the 2012 prediction was spot-on. Mobile Experts would like to thank the 19 companies that shared confidential shipment data to create this highly accurate forecast.

About Mobile Experts LLC:

Mobile Experts provides insightful market analysis for the mobile infrastructure and mobile handset markets. Our analysts are true Experts, who remain focused on topics where each analyst has 20 years of experience or more. Research topics center on technology introduction for radio frequency (RF) and communications innovation. Recent publications focus on Small Cells, Semiconductors for Small Cells, Macro Base Station Transceivers, Semiconductors for RRH, Active Antenna Systems, Backhaul for Small Cells, DAS, Cloud RAN, and Carrier Wi-Fi.