According to a new market report published by Lucintel, the future of the gallium arsenide wafer market looks attractive, with opportunities in Radio Frequency (RF) and optoelectronics.
The global gallium arsenide wafer market is expected to reach an estimated $1.3bn by 2023 with a CAGR of 11.5% from 2018 to 2023. The drivers of growth are increasing adoption of smartphones and growing penetration of LED in general lighting.
Vertical Gradient Freeze (VGF) and Liquid Encapsulated Czochralski (LEC) are the two major technologies used to manufacture gallium arsenide wafer. It seems likely that VGF will remain the largest manufacturing technology, as it is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period. This is because it produces substrates with relatively low defect densities and higher mechanical strength.
Gallium arsenide wafer substrate types
Gallium arsenide wafer is categorized into two substrate types: semi-conducting substrate and semi-insulating. The semi-conducting substrate type is expected to remain the largest segment and witness the highest growth over the forecast period due to increased demand for LEDs, lasers, and photodiodes.
In the GaAs wafer market, optoelectronics seems set to remain the largest application segment. Additionally this segment is also expected to grow at highest rate during the forecast period supported by the increasing demand for LEDs and lasers.
Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest region by value. It is predicted that it will experience the highest growth over the forecast period supported by increasing demand for smartphones and LEDs in China, Japan, Taiwan, and India.
Emerging trends, which have a direct impact on the dynamics of the industry, include growing demand for larger size GaAs wafers and reusing gallium arsenide wafers for higher performance devices.
Freiberger Compound Materials, Sumitomo Electric Industries, AXT, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, and DOWA Electronics Materials are among the major GaAs wafer providers.
