Akoustis Receives WiFi 6E Design Win for MU-MIMO Gateway
Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) has announced the design of its patented XBAW filters into a new WiFi 6E gateway platform for a carrier-grade OEM. The 5.5 GHz and 6.5 GHz coexistence filters will enable advanced multi-user capabilities. Production is expected to ramp up in early 2022. Akoustis aims to increase its production capacity to 500 million filters per year by the end of 2021, driven by a growing sales funnel. The FCC's approval for the 5.9 to 7.1 GHz spectrum further fuels demand for high-performance RF filters.
- XBAW filters integrated into a new WiFi 6E gateway platform enhances market position.
- Production ramp expected in early 2022, indicating growth potential.
- Company plans to increase annual production capacity to 500 million filters by end of 2021.
- None.
- 5.5 GHz and 6.5 GHz XBAW Coexistence Filter Solutions for Carrier-Grade OEM
- Production Ramp Expected to Begin in Q4 Calendar 2021
Charlotte, N.C., Aug. 25, 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 XBAW® filters are being designed into a new WiFi 6E gateway platform by a carrier-grade WiFi OEM.
The new gateway design will use multiple Akoustis 5.5 GHz and 6.5 GHz XBAW® 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. 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. The Company expects the customer to enter production of the new gateway in late calendar 2021, with production to ramp in early 2022.
Dave Aichele, EVP of Business Development of Akoustis, stated, “We continue to add new WiFi 6E customers as our industry leading 5.5/6.5 GHz and 5.6/6.6 GHz coexistence filter solutions offer greater selectivity and greater flexibility in terms of spectrum use.” Mr. Aichele continued, “Given the robust activity in our WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E filter sales pipeline, we expect to receive multiple new design wins in the coming months.”
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 WiFi 6E coexistence XBAW® filter solutions.
Given the rapidly growing sales funnel activity as well as ongoing interaction with customers regarding expected ramps in both 5G mobile 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.
Akoustis currently has 15 commercial XBAW filters in its product catalog, and recently introduced 5.6 GHz and 6.6 GHz WiFi 6E coexistence filter modules, which when qualified, will bring the number of catalog products to 17. Current product catalog filters include a 5.6 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.2 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.5 GHz WiFi-6E filter, a 6.5 GHz WiFi 6E filter, three small cell 5G network infrastructure filters including two Band n77 filters and one Band n79 filter, a 3.8 GHz filter and five S-Band filters for defense phased-array radar applications, a 3.6 GHz filter for the CBRS 5G infrastructure market and a C-Band filter for the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market. The Company is also developing several new filters for the sub-7 GHz bands targeting 5G mobile device, network infrastructure, WiFi CPE and defense markets.
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 XBAW® 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 high-purity, single-crystal and associated piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology which drives electro-mechanical coupling and translates to wide filter bandwidth.
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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FAQ
What are Akoustis Technologies' new products related to WiFi 6E and their capabilities?
When is the expected production ramp for Akoustis' new WiFi 6E gateway?
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