WIN Semiconductors finishes 2009 as largest Apac GaAs supplier

BOSTON, USA: The market value for GaAs revenues, driven by smartphones and consumer adoption of data-intensive applications, has grown strongly from the lows it struggled for in early 2009.

The recently published Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductors (GaAs) report, “GaAs Device Vendor Market Share 2009: Asia-Pacific and Europe,” reports that this growth brought the total market value for GaAs revenues to little more than $4 billion, a slight increase over 2008 revenue levels.

Driven by an industry tendency toward increased outsourcing of foundry business, WIN Semiconductors has vaulted into the fifth spot in the Strategy Analytics GaAs vendor revenue rankings.

WIN Semiconductor’s growth makes them the largest GaAs vendor in the region, surpassing Sumitomo Electric’s Eudyna Devices group. Also, this report highlights the effect of so many large Japanese electronics companies which merged or re-structured during 2009.

“A notable development in this region is the growth of pure-play foundry WIN Semiconductors,” noted Eric Higham, Director of the Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Service. “Growth in GaAs demand and a trend to more foundry outsourcing by suppliers has enabled them to double their GaAs revenues in the past two years. With continuing GaAs industry growth, we expect WIN Semiconductors to become the largest GaAs foundry in the world by the end of 2010.”

The report provides strategic comments, representative products and selected news items for a comprehensive set of GaAs vendors in the Asia-Pacific and European regions. It also identifies the top ten global vendors in terms of GaAs device market share. Strategy Analytics estimates that four of the top ten GaAs vendors, led by WIN Semiconductors in the fifth spot, are located in the Asia-Pacific region.