2023 China Filter Industry Technology Status, Market Demand Space and Future Development Trend Forecast - CICC Qixin (Beijing) International Information Consulting Co., Ltd. - Guotong Survey Report Network is an authoritative supplier of professional industry data analysis reports, project feasibility reports and special research, providing domestic and foreign enterprises with all-round, multi-angle data-based market planning and evaluation surveys Strategic Data Analysis Feasibility Research Report, welcome to inquire at 400-1050-986
1. Basic overview of the filter industry: the filter is a device with frequency selectivity for radio frequency signals in mobile communication equipment, which selects and controls the signal frequency in the communication link in the communication system, selects a specific frequency signal to pass through, suppresses unwanted frequency signals, solves the problem of signal interference between different frequency bands and different forms of communication systems, and effectively maintains the isolation of the receiving and transmitting radio frequency bands, improves the communication quality, and is widely used in the radio frequency signal processing unit of the base station and the terminal. The filter is a two-port network, the signal enters from the input port, through the filter network, the clutter is filtered, and then the signal is output from the output port, and its selection characteristics are determined by the system requirements.
The performance of the filter directly affects the communication quality of the communication system. The main parameters of the filter include center frequency, passband bandwidth, insertion loss, Q value, out-of-band rejection, etc., among which Q value and insertion loss are the most important. The higher the Q value, the narrower the passband bandwidth that the filter can achieve, and the better filtering function can be achieved. Insertion loss is the signal power attenuation of the passband signal after passing through the filter, when the insertion loss reaches 1dB, the signal power attenuation reaches 20%. The main parameters of the filter are shown in the following table:
2. Technical status of filter industry:
(1) High requirements for personalized product design: communication RF devices such as filters are technology-intensive products, which have high requirements for research and design, processing technology, quality control, production operations, staff quality, equipment accuracy, after-sales service, etc.; At the same time, due to the scattered frequency resources of global operators, the standard, scale and function of the products are mostly based on the specific needs of customers, with personalized design and "special custom" production, and there are many product varieties.
(2) Affected by the national macro policy: the main downstream of the filter is the communication operation industry, the current stage of the mobile communication operation industry management system in the mainland, the government has a clear dominant position, the previous telecommunications industry restructuring is carried out under the auspices of the government, each reorganization has changed the competition pattern of mobile communication operators, determines the scale and direction of investment in the mobile communication industry, and also affects the development direction and speed of the filter manufacturing industry.
3. Filter market demand space: the filter is a key component of the base station antenna feeder system, located in the upstream of the communication industry chain, and the delivered products are finally installed in the mobile base station invested and constructed by the mobile operator after the integration of the equipment integrator, and the mobile base station belongs to the infrastructure of the communication network, and the scale and speed of investment are related to the cycle of mobile communication upgrading, so the market situation of the filter industry is highly correlated with the operator's capital expenditure.
In 2008, the more developed areas of the mainland began to popularize 3G technology, and in the next three years, the growth rate of fixed asset investment in the telecommunications industry increased year by year, and in the transition stage from 2010 to 2013, the growth of fixed investment was slow, until 2013, when the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China officially issued 4G licenses to the three major operators, bringing a new round of steady growth in investment. From 2016 to 2018, in the transition stage from 4G to 5G, the revenue and profits of filter manufacturers have rebounded. In 2019, operators began to test commercial 5G networks, and in 2020, they began to deploy networks on a large scale, bringing the demand for filters back to the growth track.
By the end of 2021, a total of 1.425 million 5G base stations had been built and opened in mainland China, accounting for more than 60% of the global 5G base stations. According to this estimate, by the end of 2021, the number of 5G base stations in the world will be about 2.375 million. According to Huawei's forecast, the number of 5G base stations in the world will reach 6.5 million by 2025, that is, more than 4.1 million new 5G base stations will be built globally from 2022 to 2025. According to the GSA (Global Mobile Suppliers Association), as of December 2021, 487 operators in 145 countries are investing in 5G. Although 4G penetration is already high in China and developed countries, there is still a need to enhance 4G coverage in developing countries, so the demand for both 4G and 5G filters will exist in the future.
By 2025, the overall scale of the information and communication industry will be further expanded, the quality of development will be significantly improved, and a new digital infrastructure that is high-speed and ubiquitous, integrated and interconnected, intelligent, green, safe and reliable will be basically built, the innovation capacity will be greatly enhanced, the emerging business formats will flourish, and the ability to empower the digital transformation and upgrading of the economy and society will be comprehensively improved, becoming a strong pillar for building a manufacturing power, a network power, and a digital China. In terms of infrastructure, we will strive to have 26 5G base stations per 10,000 people, and the number of 5G base stations in the mainland will reach more than 3.6 million by 2025. It is estimated that by 2030, the number of 5G base stations in mainland China will reach 15 million, and the cumulative direct investment in 5G infrastructure will reach 4 trillion yuan. At the same time, 5G terminals based on industrial Internet and other Internet of Things applications (including 5G small base stations, 5G micro base stations, indoor distribution, etc.) will also be developed on a large scale. It is predicted that from 2019 to 2025, the global market space brought by the construction of 5G base stations for filters will be about 60 billion yuan, and the market space in China will be about 30 billion yuan.
At present, the mainland 5G from 2018 scale trial, 2019 pre-commercial to 2020 scale commercialization, after the "2G follow", "3G breakthrough" to "4G synchronization", 5G progress has been in the world's leading, referring to foreign 3G/4G cycles, such as Europe 2003-2009, the United States 2004-2010 and other life cycles of 7-8 years, it is estimated that the mainland 5G cycle is also about 7-8 years. Compared with 2G/3G/4G, 5G in mainland China will have a longer life cycle, a larger number of terminals, richer application scenarios, and a larger increase in the scale of base stations. At the same time, due to the diversification of 5G application scenarios (enhanced mobile broadband, massive connections, high reliability and low latency, etc.) and the different progress of various industries, 5G investment will be a relatively long-term process. At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in July 2023 that while continuing to evolve and upgrade to enhanced 5G, it will vigorously promote 6G technology research, carry out technical tests, deepen exchanges and cooperation, and accelerate 6G innovation and development.
4. Analysis of the development trend of the filter industry:
(1) The product is developing in the direction of high integration, high precision, miniaturization and lightweight: due to the very limited spectrum resources of mobile communication, the mutual interference between various networks is more serious when the low frequency is exhausted. With the gradual development of mobile communication systems such as 4G and 5G to high frequency, the development of RF metal components to adapt to high-frequency communication is also an inevitable trend. The communication principle shows that the wavelength of higher frequency radio signals is shorter, the power loss is larger, and the corresponding base station construction is gradually developing towards miniaturization and high precision, and the volume of radio frequency devices such as filters in the base station system needs to be reduced accordingly. Therefore, RF metal components, as an important internal component of RF devices, are developing towards a trend of higher integration and precision, gradually smaller size, and lighter weight.
(2) The value of RF devices in base stations is further increased: in 2G network base stations, the value of RF devices accounts for about 4% of the value of the entire base station, and with the development of base stations in the direction of miniaturization, RF devices in 3G and 4G technology have gradually increased to 6%-8%, and the proportion of some base stations can reach 9%-10%. In the 5G era, the flattening of the network makes the RRU more closely integrated with the antenna, and the air interface transmission efficiency requirements make the Massvie MIMO technology widely used, so the value proportion of base station RF devices will be further increased. The 5G macro base station antenna technology takes Massive MIMO as the direction, and increases the channel capacity by increasing the number of antennas, doubling the spectrum utilization rate to meet the application requirements of 5G. The traditional 4G base station RF scheme generally has 8 channels, 4TR in FDD mode, 8TR in TDD mode, and 64TR (i.e., 64 channels) according to the mainstream scheme of 5G high-capacity hot spot scenarios, with a macro base station with 3 antennas, a total of 192 channels, and the number of filters required for a single macro base station is 192. In addition, the combination of macro base stations and micro base stations has greatly increased the number of micro base stations compared with the 4G era, providing a wide market space for filters and related modules.
(3) Domestic substitution is basically completed: Since the beginning of the 3G era, the mobile communication RF device industry has continued to shift to China. With the rise of Huawei and ZTE, China's communication equipment industry has become more and more powerful, occupying a leading position and driving the development of the domestic upstream industry chain. Other communication main equipment manufacturers such as Ericsson and Nokia are also actively seeking low-cost upstream suppliers from the perspective of reducing costs. At the same time, Chinese manufacturers have advantages in raw materials and labor, so they are gradually seizing the market share of mainstream foreign suppliers. At present, the process of domestic substitution of filters has been basically completed.
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