Land-Based Radios Provide the Biggest Opportunity for GaN Revenue
To support emerging requirements in defense communications networks, radios are incorporating more software-defined reconfigurability, along with increasing operating frequencies and bandwidths to accommodate a wider variety of waveforms and to provide more capacity. The Strategy Analytics Advanced Defense Systems (ADS) report “Global Military Radio Market and Technology Forecast: 2018 – 2028” forecasts that these and other factors will drive military radio revenue to nearly $9 billion in 2028. The report segments radio spending and shipments by region, mission, frequency, power and semiconductor content. The report forecasts that land-based radios will account for more than two-thirds of all radio expenditures and GaN-based devices will capture market share to reach revenues exceeding $280 million in 2028.
“Battlefield philosophies recognize the value of fast, robust information flow and the importance of networks,” noted Eric Higham Director of the Advanced Defense Systems (ADS) service. “Radios form the linchpin for these networks and as network requirements evolve, radio performance is the enabler.” He went on to say, “Expanding software capabilities in radios means digital silicon will remain the largest semiconductor revenue opportunity, but more challenging RF performance requirements will result in very fast revenue growth for GaN-based devices.”
