RF IC vendor RichWave Technology is ramping up wafer starts at foundry house Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Company (AWSC) and also at its backend partners, looking to further grow its presence in the Wi-Fi FEM (front end-modules) segment this year, according to industry sources.
The company looks to raise its share in the global Wi-Fi FEM market to 30% by 2023, up from 2020's 15-18%, the sources said.
RichWave will also shift production of mature products to SiGe manufacturing process that offers lower costs - a move that will ease the loading of its partners' GaAs capacity and boost the products' competitiveness in pricing, the sources said.
RichWave backend service partners will also expand 30% of their capacity to fulfill its orders for 2021, the sources said.
Currently, RichWave is keen on promoting Wi-Fi 6 solutions needed to address sub-6GHz's low penetration, and the pricing of Wi-Fi 6 products is also around 30% higher than that of Wi-Fi 5 devices at the moment.
RichWave's consolidated revenues hit a new monthly record in March with the amount surpassing NT$600 million (US$20.88 million).
Article translated by Joseph Tsai
