The market for power amplifiers or “PAs” in cell phones and related mobile devices is slated to jump to $2.8 billion over the next five years according to a recent report from Strategy Analytics.

 

The report, “Cellular PA Forecast 2009 – 2014,” was published by Strategy Analytics (News - Alert) RF & Wireless Component market research and covers historical and projected shipments by power amp air interface including CDMA, GSM / GPRS, EDGE, W-CDMA variants, primary process technology like GaAs, LDMOS, CMOS, SiGe-BiCMOS and module type – including basic module, PA-duplexer, PA-switch.

 

Chris Taylor, director of the RF & Wireless Components market research service said, “We estimate that the PA market will reach almost 4 billion units per year in 2014, even as dual-mode PAs begin to reduce the power amplifier count per cellular terminal.”

 

According to the research findings, a downturn in handset sales decreased the demand for cellular PAs in the first half of 2009. Application of cellular PAs has however expanded to notebook and netbook computers as well as machine-to-machine systems such as automatic meter readers. Simultaneously, bands used by the typical cellular terminal are increasing which will help give a boost to shipments of cellular terminals and PAs.

 

Another recent Strategy Analytics report indicates that the availability of dual-mode power amplifiers will give a boost to the GaAs industry.

 

“Shipments of CMOS PAs will increase over the next five years, but GaAs-based PA modules will continue to dominate the market as cellular moves beyond W-CDMA to LTE (News - Alert),” Asif Anwar, director of the Gallium Arsenide and Compound Semiconductor market research service, said.