Rising cost of 3nm ASICs drives move to 6G processors
The rising costs of ASICs at 3nm are driving a shift in chip design for 6G telecoms systems as 5G peaks, says a new report.
US consultancy Mobile Experts says this is the first comprehensive and detailed forecast of baseband processors in wireless infrastructure, with detailed analysis of the shift from ASICs and FPGAs to a more complex world of vRAN systems on chip (SoCs), semi-custom ICs, off-the shelf solutions, and acceleration solutions.
The report, Semiconductors for BBU / DU / CU 2023, illustrates how the cost of developing an ASIC has risen with the migration from 10nm to 3nm CMOS, and how the relatively small size of the mobile infrastructure market makes a line-up of fully customized ASICs difficult to justify.
Baseband Chip Revenue in Wireless Infrastructure
The technical and economic analysis illustrates how the processor opportunity will shift in character distinctly to solutions that re-use elements that are developed for other applications. The report tracks the market share of today’s BBU, DU, and CU chip vendors to validate the trends identified.
The forecasting spans five years for detailed technical questions and 10 years for broader analysis of the direction of the chip market, to show the rise of new approaches in the 5G-Advanced and 6G cycle.
“The 5G cycle is peaking now and will start to decline for a few years,” said Joe Madden, Principal Analyst at Mobile Experts. “As the market realigns for 6G, we expect to see the semiconductor marketplace realign as well, with off-the-shelf chip options becoming a significant portion of the total, and semi-custom ICs replacing the previous pattern of ASICs with customization of every function.”
Mobile Experts; Semiconductors for BBU / DU / CU 2023
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