When you are in a high-rise building, subway, or remote area, your phone signal may come and go—this is often due to performance bottlenecks in the RF power amplifier (PA) chip. Now, this situation is being fundamentally rewritten.
Recently, the 55th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC 55) and its subsidiary, Nanjing Guobo Electronics Co., Ltd., announced that their self-developed world's first GaN-on-Si RF chip for smart terminals has completed mass delivery, with cumulative shipments exceeding 5 million units. This marks the first time globally that this category of chip has achieved large-scale commercial deployment in consumer-grade and civilian communication terminals, signifying that domestic RF chips have truly shifted from primarily catching up with international brands to achieving a "lane-changing overtake."
The Inevitable Path from GaAs to GaN
RF chips are the "signal heart" of communication systems, directly determining the transmission rate, coverage range, and stability of devices such as smartphones and satellite terminals. Currently, core components of domestic smartphone RF chips commonly use the second-generation semiconductor material—gallium arsenide (GaAs).
However, with the explosive growth of 5G/6G communications, commercial aerospace, and the low-altitude economy, the requirements for RF power amplifier chips have escalated to new heights: higher power, higher efficiency, wider bandwidth, and greater reliability. GaAs chips are increasingly struggling to meet these stringent demands, while the third-generation semiconductor material gallium nitride (GaN), with its physical advantages such as wide bandgap, high breakdown field strength, and high electron mobility, has become the recognized next-generation material for RF chips. However, previous GaN RF chips were mostly based on expensive silicon carbide (SiC) substrates, resulting in high costs that hindered their entry into consumer-grade smart terminals.
How to grow high-performance GaN devices on silicon substrates while achieving low-cost, mass production—this "have your cake and eat it too" challenge has been a key focus of the global semiconductor industry for decades.
Full-Chain Independent R&D, Building China's First 6-Inch Production Line
The team at CETC 55, aligned with major national strategic needs, concentrated efforts on tackling key technologies across the entire GaN-on-Si chain. After years of intensive research, the team successively broke through a series of technical bottlenecks, including material epitaxial preparation, independent chip design, complete process verification, and product reliability testing.
The core R&D team stated that the development took two years, successfully overcoming the key core technologies of the third-generation semiconductor material—GaN-on-Si.
CETC 55 and its subsidiary, Nanjing Guobo Electronics Co., Ltd., also built China's first 6-inch low-voltage RF GaN-on-Si production line, laying a solid capacity foundation for large-scale manufacturing. This chip achievement has been recognized as one of the top ten scientific and technological advances in the electronic information field of Jiangsu Province in 2026.
A "Versatile Player" with Small Size, Low Cost, and High Performance
Compared to traditional GaAs RF chips, GaN-on-Si RF chips achieve a significant leap in performance while being smaller in area and lower in cost.
This series of chips features outstanding performance including high power, high efficiency, ultra-wide bandwidth, and high reliability, precisely meeting the stringent technical requirements of space-air-ground integrated communications for high efficiency and high linearity in RF power amplifier chips. Additionally, the team has successfully developed a series of products adaptable to multiple scenarios, covering categories such as satellite payload communication subsystems, low-altitude platform communication terminals and data transmission modules, ground gateway stations, and smart terminal RF chips.
From Phones to Satellites: "Chips" Connecting Space, Air, and Ground
In the smart terminal field, this chip has been integrated into consumer-grade devices like smartphones, effectively addressing signal stuttering and disconnection issues in complex scenarios such as high-rise buildings, subways, and remote areas, making "full-time, full-coverage connectivity" a reality.
In the broader aerospace field, with the accelerated development of China's commercial aerospace, low-altitude economy, 6G R&D, and information and communication industries, the demand for low-cost, high-performance RF chips is growing explosively. The space-air-ground integrated information network is the core foundation supporting future 6G communications, commercial aerospace, low-altitude economy, and emergency communications. The mass production of this chip provides key hardware support for this grand blueprint.
A relevant team leader revealed that the next step will be to launch GaN-on-Si RF chips for satellite payload communication subsystems, low-altitude platforms, and satellite terminals, significantly reducing the cost of low-altitude platforms and handheld terminals that connect directly to satellites.
Breaking Decades of Overseas Monopoly, Achieving a "Lane-Changing Overtake"
This represents a historic leap for domestic RF chips.
For decades, overseas manufacturers have held a long-term monopoly in the RF GaN field. The large-scale commercial deployment of GaN-on-Si RF chips in smart terminals has effectively solved the industrialization challenges of high-end RF chips, marking that domestic smart terminal RF chips have truly achieved a "lane-changing overtake" from primarily catching up with international brands.
With the advancement of the expansion project for an annual production capacity of 720,000 8-inch GaN-on-Si chips, the production capacity of domestic GaN-on-Si chips will be further unleashed, providing continuous, robust support for the full coverage and high-speed interconnection of the space-air-ground integrated information network.