Akoustis Receives WiFi 6E Design Win for MU-MIMO Gateway Product from New Customer
Akoustis Technologies announced its fourth design win for patented WiFi 6E XBAW filters, set to be integrated into a new carrier-grade WiFi 6E gateway by a WiFi OEM. The solution will use 5.5 GHz and 6.5 GHz tandem filter modules for a 2X2 MU-MIMO carrier gateway product, with production expected to ramp up in the first half of 2022. This expansion aligns with the growing demand for high-performance coexistence filters following the FCC's approval of the 5.9 to 7.1 GHz bands for unlicensed use.
- Fourth design win for patented WiFi 6E XBAW filters.
- New customer utilizing 5.5 GHz and 6.5 GHz filter modules, expanding market presence.
- Production ramp expected in first half of 2022, indicating growing operational scale.
- Increasing sales pipeline driven by WiFi 6E technology and anticipated revenue growth.
- None.
- This is the Fourth Design Win Akoustis has Received for its New Patented WiFi 6E XBAW Filters
- New Customer to Use Akoustis 5.5 GHz and 6.5 GHz Tandem WiFi 6E XBAW Filter Modules for 2X2 MU-MIMO Carrier Gateway Product
- Production Ramp Expected to Begin in the First Half of Calendar 2022
Charlotte, N.C., Nov. 16, 2021 (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 its patented XBAWTM filters are being designed into a new carrier-grade WiFi 6E gateway platform by a WiFi OEM.
The new gateway design will use multiple Akoustis 5.5 GHz and 6.5 GHz XBAWTM coexistence filters for a tri-band multi-user, multiple-in-multiple-out (MU-MIMO) gateway product that will be part of carrier installed consumer premise equipment (CPE). The 5.5 GHz filter module covers the UNII 1-3 spectrum of the WiFi 6E standard, while the 6.5 GHz filter module covers the entire UNII 5-8 spectrum. Akoustis expects the customer to enter production of the new gateway in early calendar 2022, with production to ramp by mid-year.
Dave Aichele, EVP of Business Development of Akoustis, stated, “We continue to add new WiFi 6E customers given the superior performance and selectivity of our leading XBAW™ filter solutions.” Mr. Aichele continued, “Our sales pipeline is growing across all of our major markets, led by WiFi 6E, and we expect new design wins to drive revenue growth in calendar 2022 and beyond.”
In April 2020, the FCC announced the approval of 5.9 to 7.1 GHz for unlicensed use, which is the largest spectrum addition since the FCC allocated unlicensed spectrum for WiFi in 1989. The next generation of WiFi that is expected to use these new frequency bands is called WiFi 6E. This approval will create another significant new band, or combination of bands, over the next several years. Since the FCC’s April announcement, governments around the world have begun allocating the same or similar spectrum for future WiFi use. As spectrum is scarce, many nations are limited in the amount of new, available unlicensed spectrum above 6 GHz. This is driving great demand for high-performance coexistence filters that allow the use of all available spectrum.
Akoustis is actively delivering volume production of its WiFi 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 patented WiFi 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, WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E in calendar 2022, the Company plans to increase the annual production capacity at its New York fab by the end of calendar 2021 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 XBAWTM 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.
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