RF GaN 기술의 특허 동향 분석 (2026년)

Mapping innovation, IP leadership and strategic opportunities across the RF GaN ecosystem

Key Features

REPORT

PDF file with 270+ slides

• Global patenting trends, including time evolution of patent publications, countries of patent filings, etc.
• Main patent assignees and IP newcomers by countries and segments.
• Key players’ IP position and the relative strength of their patent portfolio.
• Focus on key players’ IP portfolios.
• IP profile of 15 key players (patent portfolio overview, technical coverage, geographical coverage, recent notable innovations, etc.).
• Patents categorized by supply chain/technical segments (wafers & epiwafers, devices, modules & packaging, circuits, current collapse, GaN-on-Silicon, monolithic integration, thermal management, etc.). For each segment: IP dynamics, ranking of main patent assignees, IP newcomers, key IP players, recent innovations.

The report is provided under a multi-user license and can be shared internally among employees of the purchasing organization. Subsidiaries and joint ventures are excluded from this license.

DATABASE

Excel database containing the 5,300+ patents of the report, including patent segmentations and hyperlinks to an updated online database.

DASHBOARD

Interactive dashboard (one-year access for unlimited authorized users)

• Transforming the analysis into a true decision-support tool.
• Enabling free and dynamic exploration of the patent landscape by applicant, technology, country/geographical area, publication period, and legal status.
• Allowing users to instantly drill down into key insights and tailor the analysis to the specific needs of each function (R&D, IP, strategy, business development).

Access to the interactive dashboard is granted for one year (12 months) to an unlimited number of authorized users within the purchasing organization. The dashboard must not be used to produce analyses or reports that are resold, sublicensed, or otherwise made available to any external user or entity outside the purchasing organization.

RF GaN Enters a New Phase of Growth and Strategic Competition

The RF GaN market is entering a new growth cycle, driven not only by telecom infrastructure but increasingly by defense, electronic warfare, counter-drone systems and satellite communications. The device market is projected to reach $2.4 billion by 2031, while defense-related RF GaN revenues alone are expected to rise from $592 million in 2025 to $1.06 billion in 2031.

At the technology level, GaN-on-SiC remains the reference platform for high-power telecom, radar and electronic-warfare applications thanks to its power density, thermal performance and established qualification track record. At the same time, GaN-on-Si is progressing toward industrialization, supported by 8-inch manufacturing and emerging opportunities in lower-power radio architectures and future FR3 and 6G applications.

Innovation is also expanding across the entire RF GaN value chain from semi-insulating substrates and epitaxy to transistor architectures, thermal management, advanced packaging, heterogeneous integration and RF circuits. Emerging platforms such as GaN-on-diamond and GaN-on-AlN could further reshape performance limits over the longer term.

Meanwhile, consolidation, licensing, portfolio repositioning and geopolitical tensions are transforming the competitive landscape. Manufacturing sovereignty, access to critical substrates, control of process IP and technology-transfer restrictions are becoming as strategically important as device performance itself.

As RF GaN moves into this new phase of market growth, the competitive implications remain far from settled. Which technology platforms are attracting the strongest innovation efforts? Which players are building defensible positions in emerging areas such as GaN-on-Si, advanced epitaxy, thermal management and packaging? How are US, Chinese, Japanese and European companies adapting their IP strategies as supply chains become more regionalized and access to critical technologies more strategic?

Patent analysis provides a unique lens through which to address these questions, revealing not only where innovation is taking place, but also who is investing, where they are seeking protection, how competitive positions are evolving, and which technology areas may become future sources of differentiation, dependency or confrontation.

What the Patent Landscape Shows

The RF GaN patent landscape is evolving in two directions at once: overall patenting activity is slowing as the technology matures, while competition is intensifying in selected technologic and geographic areas.

The analysis highlights a competitive landscape in which the US and China increasingly shape the global IP balance, Europe is becoming a more strategic patent jurisdiction, and Japanese companies are broadening their international protection strategies. At the same time, focused areas such as RF GaN wafer and epiwafer technologies continue to generate meaningful shifts in competitive positioning.

RF GaN IP Competition Intensifies Across the Value Chain

Across the RF GaN supply chain, competitive IP positions remain concentrated around a limited number of established players, but the balance is shifting. Japanese companies continue to hold strong IPpositions in wafers and epiwafers, with Sumitomo Electric and NGK Insulators among the established leaders and Shin-Etsu emerging as a significant challenger. In devices and downstream technologies, US players retain a particularly strong position. Following the transfer of Wolfspeed’s RF business and related patent assets, MACOM now stands out through the breadth of its IP position across RF GaN devices, packaging and circuits, giving it one of the most comprehensive portfolios across the value chain.

Competition is also taking increasingly distinct regional forms. China’s leading RF GaN patent positions remain largely driven by state-backed organizations, notably CETC and Xidian University, with Xidian University emerging as the leading domestic player in RF GaN devices. At the same time, industrial companies such as Huawei, Enkris and Hanhua Semiconductor are becoming more visible, suggesting a gradual broadening of China’s innovation base beyond institutional applicants.

Meanwhile, IP strategies are becoming increasingly international. US companies are extending their patent protection more strongly into Europe and, increasingly, China, while Japanese players have expanded their filings in the United States and China since 2022. The RF GaN IP landscape is therefore moving toward more direct competition across both technology segments and jurisdictions, with portfolio breadth and international patent coverage becoming increasingly important dimensions of IP leadership.

Useful patent database

This report includes an extensive Excel database with all patents analyzed in this study, including:

• Key patent information (numbers, dates, assignees, titles, abstracts, etc.)
• Hyperlinks to an up-to-date online database (original documents, legal status, etc.)
• Structured classification by supply chain/technical segments (wafers & epiwafers, devices, modules & packaging, circuits, current collapse, GaN-on-Silicon, monolithic integration, thermal management, etc.)

Interactive dashboard (optional)

Optional add-on: One-year access to the interactive dashboard for unlimited authorized users within your organization.

This solution transforms the patent landscape analysis into a true decision-support tool.

Key features:

• Dynamically explore the patent landscape based on your priorities
• Access clear, interactive visualizations for immediate insights
• Filter and analyze data by players, technologies, countries, dates, and legal status
• Drill down instantly from high-level trends to specific players, technologies, and patents
• Tailor insights to the needs of each team (R&D, IP, strategy, business development)

Benefits:

• Get immediate answers to your key questions
• Save time and accelerate decision-making
• Focus on the insights that matter most

Companies mentioned in the report (non-exhaustive)

INDUSTRIALS: CETC, Sumitomo Electric, Macom, Mitsubishi Electric, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Wolfspeed, Intel, Qorvo, Panasonic, NXP, NTT, RTX Corporation, HiWAFER, San’an, HRL, Dynax Semiconductor, Samsung, Northrop Grumman, Hatchip, Huawei, Murata, NEC, RFHIC, NGK Insulators, Shin Etsu, Akoustis, Ampleon, Hanhua Semiconductor, Qualcomm, ZTE, Sony, SpaceX, WIN Semiconductors, Broadcom, BAE Systems, Infineon, Skyworks, Sumitomo Chemical, Analog Devices, OnMicro Electronics, Thales, Lockheed Martin, Enkris, IQE, Nuvoton, and more.

R&D LABORATORIES: Xidian University, SCUT, IMECAS, UESTC, Institute of Semiconductors (CAS), ETRI, SINANO (CAS), University of California, KETI, KNU – Kyungpook National University, SUSTech, Fraunhofer, MIT, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem & Information Technology (CAS), imec, Cornell University, Shandong University, Sun Yat-sen University, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, AIST, CEA, and more..

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

• Context and objectives of the report
• Patent search strategy and methodology

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Take away messages
• IP activities in the different ecosystems (Japan, China, US, Europe, etc.)
• IP activities across the supply Chain

RF GaN PATENT LANDSCAPE

• Patent landscape overview
  • Who is driving the patenting activity?
  • The global supply chain from a patent perspective
  • Most active IP players and new entrants
  • Main technical challenges (dynamic on-resistance, e-mode, GaN-on-Si, vertical devices, monolithic integration, thermal management, etc.)
• Patent landscape analysis by country/geographical area
  • US patent landscape
  • Japanese patent landscape
  • European patent landscape
  • Chinese patent landscape
  • Taiwanese patent landscape
  • South Korean patent landscape

For each country: time evolution of patenting activity, supply chain from a patent perspective, status of players’ IP activity, main patent assignees, most active IP players, new entrants, main technical challenges addressed by IP players, IP strategies of players, current legal status of their patents (pending, granted, protected countries, etc.), recent IP collaborations (patent co-filings) and IP transfers (change in ownership), focus on key players’ patent portfolio.

• Patent landscape analysis by supply chain segments
  • Wafers & epiwafers for RF applications
  • GaN RF devices
  • RF modules & packaging
  • RF circuits & applications

For each segment: Time evolution of patent publications from US players, Japanese players, European players, etc., main patent assignees, most active IP players, new entrants, current legal status of their patents (pending, granted), technical challenges addressed by IP players, main patent assignees and new entrant by technical challenge.

ANNEX

• Terminology

KNOWMADE PRESENTATION