Telecom operators in Europe and the US have been actively planning the industry's transition to Wi-Fi 7, providing impetus to the development of new products supporting the this standard, according to sources at IC design houses.
Wi-Fi 7 commercialization has started in the second half of 2023, and is expected to quickly pick up momentum in 2024, the sources said. Wi-Fi 7 penetration is also expected to expanded faster than previously anticipated, and the market's transition to the new standard may be completed faster than any other previous generations had been able to achieve, the sources added.
Chip vendors, including Broadcom, Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Realtek are all eyeing the Wi-Fi business opportunities, the sources said.
Richwave Technology, a Wi-Fi front-end module (FEM) maker, recently disclosed that chip vendors and their supply chain partners have been keen on making deployments for the Wi-Fi 7 segment. Although shipments have yet to expand significantly, there are many new projects and shipment momentum is expected to be very strong in 2024.
Chip vendors have already entered overdrive for Wi-Fi 7-related businesses since the first half of 2023, the sources said. Customers from both the infrastructure and consumer segments have been very positive about Wi-Fi 7, and telecom operators have shown the keenest interests among all customers, the sources said.
European telecom operators have long shown strong interests in Wi-Fi 7, the sources said. Previously when the Wi-Fi 7 specs had yet to be finalized, and cost levels remained high, the telecom operators were already making inquiries frequently about the progress of the development of the new standard, the sources said.
Wi-Fi 7 has been attracting such strong interests because it promises significant improvements in terms of transmission speeds, bandwidth and power consumption compared to older-generation specs. It is expected to drive developments of new applications, such as VR/AR and IoT devices. Telecom operators expect Wi-Fi 7 to be quickly adopted by the market.
The sources said that it has taken Wi-Fi 6 one to two years before becoming the mainstream spec in the market in 2023. But Wi-Fi 7 is already ready to take off, and companies are all looking to accelerate its adoption by the market in 2024, much sooner than previously expected, the sources added.
The projects that chip vendors are working on now are already enough to drive their sales and profit growth in 2024 and 2025, and they are expecting more projects to come, the sources said.
Broadcom, Qualcomm and other US chip vendors have already developed various high-end Wi-Fi SoCs supporting infrastructure construction, the sources noted, adding that Qualcomm will also introduce entry-level Wi-Fi 7 solutions to help kick-start the penetration of the new standard.
In Taiwan, MediaTek has introduced several Wi-Fi 7 solutions, and it has also readied solutions for routers and other infrastructure-related products, the sources said.
Article translated by Rodney Chan
