US : RF Micro Devices announced that it has shipped its 100 millionth WCDMA cellular front end. RFMD is the wireless industry’s first company to ship 100 million WCDMA front ends for 3G handsets. RFMD attributes the industry milestone to continued strong sales of 3G multimode handsets and to the Company’s leading market share in WCDMA cellular front ends.

Eric Creviston, corporate vice president of RFMD's cellular products group, said, "The demand for cellular front ends in 3G multimode handsets is growing significantly faster than the handset market, as 3G handsets proliferate and as new 3G bands are added. With our broad product portfolio of innovative 3G front end solutions and our industry-leading manufacturing scale, RFMD is best positioned to capture this increasing demand, while also solving the complex requirements for platform flexibility, energy conservation, and multi-band support."

In the June 2007 quarter, RFMD’s WCDMA front end revenue significantly outpaced the rate of growth of the handset market, and the Company is booked for sequential growth in WCDMA front end revenue in the September quarter of greater than 50%.

RFMD forecasts the 3G multimode market will exceed 580 million handsets by 2011, reflecting a five-year compound annual growth rate of approximately 51%. Additionally, RFMD estimates the average 3G multimode handset will support approximately 2.7 UMTS frequency bands by 2011.

3G multimode devices drive dollar content for RFMD. A 3G multimode device includes a GPRS/EDGE path and at least one UMTS path, both of which require PA-based front end solutions and associated complementary RF components. As 3G multimode devices proliferate and as the number of bands increases to support multiple regions, the market for cellular front ends and complementary components in 3G multimode handsets is expected to significantly outpace the rate of growth of cellular handsets. In addition, an increasing percentage of 3G multimode handsets also include WiFi capability, and RFMD is the leading supplier of wireless LAN front ends for WiFi enabled handsets.