Growth Opportunities in Semiconductors for 6G Wireless Technology

AI Chipsets and Compound Semiconductors Will Play a Transformational Role, Enabling the Operational and Economic Targets of Next-gen Cellular Wireless Technology

Wireless communication systems rely on semiconductor components, such as PAs, LNAs, and transceivers (together known as RF FEMs), to process signals to and from the radio unit (RU), baseband unit (BBU), and the network core to ensure customers receive the radio signals that carry the data and services.

The communication system relies on other semiconductor components, such as antenna integrated circuits (ICs), envelope trackers, microprocessors, analog devices, and optical components, to process signals as necessary. The type of semiconductors that wireless telecom communication uses has not changed much with the 2G to 5G evolution of technologies. However, the semiconductor components’ performance requirements have increased. Hence, the designs, materials, manufacturing, and packaging technologies have evolved with each new wireless communication generation.

Because 5G wireless technology is in the deployment stage, industry leaders have begun discussions about developing the next-gen wireless technology (6G) and plan to begin early commercialization in 2030. The dawn of 6G will represent a new era of communication that will provide new services beyond data. The study discusses distributed and federated learning at the edge, co-inferencing between edge and core, autonomous functioning of end devices, the development of AI-powered human-centric telecom services, joint communication, computing, sensing, and control, and several other concepts, which represent a transformation from radio access network (RAN) architecture to services.

To develop 6G, industry stakeholders are collaborating to plan the components and building blocks of each sub-technology that will lead to the development of the next-gen wireless technology. Initial stakeholder discussions are leading to an understanding that advanced semiconductors with high-performance capabilities (in computing and RF) will be necessary to enable high-speed data transfer and operate at high frequencies.

• This analysis aims to understand the changes expected in 6G wireless communication from a context of the semiconductor industry, with specific focus on RAN, and the edge.
• From a component perspective, the analysis focuses on the AI-processors, and the key RF components required at the network RAN and the edge.
• The analysis does not cover the changes expected in discrete, analog, memory, optical, and sensing products.
• It aims to provide a qualitative view based on the developments during the study period and is subject to change in the future.
• It does not aim to provide a quantitative overview of the market potential.