Boston, MA 04/25/2014 (wallstreetpr) – RF Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:RFMD) has succeeded to bag $9.7 million air force contract. As per the contract RF Micro will develop millimeter wave GaN integrated circuits. RF Micro is a leading company in the design and manufacture of high-performance radio frequency solutions. The agreement is signed with the Manufacturing and Industrial Technologies Directorate. The company will work with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) on the project.
The significance of contract
The Air Force contract is of great significance for RF Micro devices. It will help the company to set industry’s first 6-inch millimeter wave GaN-on-SiC process technology. It will be a great development for RFMD as it will be in a position to expand the technology capabilities beyond 100GHz. The new technology will result in the availability of affordable power MMICs. It will be useful in the many defense applications. The new products will also come useful in the commercial applications like microwave backhaul. The defense application includes military radar and communications equipments.
The growth
The industry of radio frequency solutions is growing. The industry expects the GaN microelectronics market to boom three times as compared to today. The market is set to reach $334 million by year 2017. It is a huge growth rate. It comes to 28% in terms of compound annual growth rate. The growth will be seen in both the sectors military as well as commercial. Military market comprises radar, electronic warfare and communications. The commercial market includes cellular applications, CATV, power management and land mobile radios.
The teamwork
The coming together of AFRL and RFMD is a positive sign. Both have their own strengths. AFRL is known for developing high performance technologies.RF Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:RFMD) can use the AFRL’s experience to develop quality millimeter wave GaN integrated circuits. It will improve the performance on the various parameters like power gain and bandwidth while improving the efficiency for applications at the same time.
