MACOM Technology and STMicroelectronics announced the expansion of 150mm GaN-on-Silicon production capacity in ST’s fabs targeting to meet 85 percent of the global demand for 5G network.
MACOM estimates there will be a 32x to 64x increase in the number of power amplifiers as the rollout of 5G networks move to Massive MIMO (M-MIMO) antenna configurations will create a substantial increase in the demand for RF Power products.

In turn, this is expected to more than triple dollar content over the course of a 5-year cycle of 5G infrastructure investment and thus drive an estimated 10x to 20x decrease in the cost per amplifier.

Base station OEMs need wide bandgap GaN performance with transformational cost structures and manufacturing capacity to meet 5G antenna cost, range and energy efficiency targets in the field, said John Croteau, president and CEO of MACOM.

ST is moving forward with RF GaN-on-Silicon, which will enable OEMs to build high-performance 5G networks, said Marco Monti, president of the Automotive and Discrete Product Group, STMicroelectronics.

Silicon Carbide is ideal for certain power applications such as automotive power conversion. GaN-on-Silicon provides the RF performance, scale and commercial cost structures to make 5G a reality.