Akoustis Receives Five New Wi-Fi Design Wins –Total Number of Wi-Fi Design Wins Increases from Eight to Thirteen

Rhea-AI Summary

Akoustis Technologies (NASDAQ: AKTS) announced five new Wi-Fi design wins, including four using Wi-Fi 6E and one using Wi-Fi 6 XBAW™ filters. These wins are expected to ramp into production and ship in 2022, increasing Akoustis' total design wins in Wi-Fi to 13. The company has also expanded its production capacity, targeting approximately 500 million filters annually at its New York facility. CEO Jeff Shealy highlighted continued momentum in the Wi-Fi segment due to performance advantages over competitors.

Positive

• Received five new Wi-Fi design wins, increasing total design wins to 13.
• Expected ramp-up of production for these designs in 2022.
• Targeting annual production capacity of approximately 500 million filters.

Negative

• None.

• Wins Include Four Wi-Fi 6E and One Wi-Fi 6 System Design
• Each New Wi-Fi 6E Design Uses MU-MIMO Architecture, with Multiple Filters Per Frequency
• All Five New Designs Are Expected to Ramp into Production and Ship in Calendar 2022

Charlotte, N.C., Jan. 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today that the Company has received five new Wi-Fi design wins from multiple customers, each of which is expected to ramp into production and ship in the current calendar year.

The wins include four designs using W-Fi 6E and one using Wi-Fi 6 XBAW™ filters. Akoustis now has thirteen design wins in Wi-Fi - eight in Wi-Fi 6E and five in Wi-Fi 6. These wins are in addition to the current diplexer agreement Akoustis has with a tier-1 PC SoC maker that is currently in development for the computing market.  The Company exited calendar 2021 with five Wi-Fi design wins in production, up from one in the September 2021 quarter.

Jeff Shealy, founder and CEO of Akoustis, stated, “Our momentum in Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E continues to grow given our size advantage over incumbent ceramic technologies and our performance advantages over other micro-filter solutions for high-frequency Wi-Fi.” Mr. Shealy continued, “We have grown our Wi-Fi design wins in production from one to five in the past three months, and now expect that number to grow substantially in calendar 2022 as we have significantly increased our total design wins already this year.”

Akoustis is actively delivering volume production of its Wi-Fi 6 tandem filter solutions, shipping multiple 5G small cell XBAW™ filter solutions, delivering initial designs of its new 5G mobile filter solutions to multiple customers and is now entering the market with its new Wi-Fi 6E coexistence XBAW™ filter solutions.

Given the rapidly growing sales funnel activity as well as ongoing interaction with customers regarding expected ramps in 5G mobile, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E in calendar 2022, the Company plans to increase the annual production capacity at its New York fab to approximately 500 million filters per year.

About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.

Akoustis^® (http://www.akoustis.com/) is a high-tech BAW RF filter solutions company that is pioneering next-generation materials science and MEMS wafer manufacturing to address the market requirements for improved RF filters - targeting higher bandwidth, higher operating frequencies and higher output power compared to incumbent polycrystalline BAW technology deployed today. The Company utilizes its proprietary and patented XBAW^TM manufacturing process to produce bulk acoustic wave RF filters for mobile and other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back end. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of poly-crystal, high-purity and single-crystal piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology which enables optimal trade-offs between critical power, frequency and bandwidth performance specifications. 

Akoustis plans to service the fast growing multi-billion-dollar RF filter market using its integrated device manufacturer (IDM) business model. The Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq. ft. ISO-9001:2015 registered commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a class 100 / class 1000 cleanroom facility - tooled for 150-mm diameter wafers - for the design, development, fabrication and packaging of RF filters, MEMS and other semiconductor devices. Akoustis Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in the Piedmont technology corridor near Charlotte, North Carolina.

Forward-Looking Statements

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These and other risks and uncertainties are described in more detail in the Risk Factors and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Considering these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances discussed in this document may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking statements included in this document speak only as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly or privately any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, for any reason after the date of this document to conform these statements to new information, actual results or to changes in our expectations.

FAQ

What is the significance of Akoustis' recent Wi-Fi design wins?

Akoustis has secured five new Wi-Fi design wins, increasing its total to 13, which signals growth in its market share and production capabilities.

How many Wi-Fi 6E designs has Akoustis won?

Akoustis has won eight designs in Wi-Fi 6E as part of its total of 13 Wi-Fi design wins.

When is Akoustis expected to ramp production for its new designs?

Akoustis expects to ramp production and ship the new Wi-Fi designs in the calendar year 2022.

What is Akoustis' production capacity goal?

Akoustis plans to increase its annual production capacity to approximately 500 million filters at its New York facility.