Rf Micro’s Chips Key In Phones ; The Chipmaker’s Power Amplifiers Are Essential To Cellular Clarity And Battery Life.

If you own a cell phone, chances are good that RF Micro Devices made a tiny part of it.

The Greensboro chipmaker is the world’s leading producer of power amplifier chips for cell phones, according to a new report from the technology research group Gartner Dataquest. Power amplifiers are tiny but important components that improve a mobile phone’s battery life and make calls sound clearer.

Gartner, a Connecticut-based technology research firm, compared dozens of semiconductor companies that produce microchips and integrated circuits for cell phones and other wireless communications devices. Gartner determined the market share for each company based on 2002 revenues.

RF Micro ranked 10th overall in the Gartner list, producing 3.6 percent of all semiconductors sold to cell phone manufacturers in 2002. Texas Instruments topped the list, with a 16 percent market share, followed by Qualcomm (15 percent) and Motorola (12 percent.)

But the Greensboro manufacturer was recognized as the leading producer of power amplifiers, a specific type of chip used in phones.

According to Gartner Dataquest, $1.09 billion worth of power amplifiers were sold in 2002. RF Micro’s share of that market was 35 percent, based on 2002 revenues of $376 million. The company’s market share in power amplifiers increased from 26 percent in 2001.

RF Micro’s closest competitor for power amplifier sales was Skyworks Solutions of Woburn, Mass. That company sold $295 million in power amplifiers in 2002 for a 27 percent market share.

Early on, RF Micro Devices pioneered a process for making reliable and inexpensive power amplifier chips, said Jerry Neal, executive vice president of sales, marketing and strategic development. The company established supplier relationships with the big cell phone makers Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Ericsson and others. RF Micro kept their business by developing better and cheaper components, he said.

“Our products give the highest performance at the lowest cost of any manufacturer,” Neal said. “That’s the way we did it.”

Long considered a leading manufacturer of power amplifiers, RF Micro Devices has been venturing into other types of microchips. The company’s goal is to make more of the components used in cell phones, while also supplying chips for hand-held computers, cell phone towers, wireless computer networking boxes, satellite radios and other devices.

“We’re diversifying completely into other areas,” Neal said.

Components for mobile phones dominate the company’s production now, “but with the acquisition of other companies, we’re able to diversify into (chips) for laptop computers, into the global positioning satellite systems that are in cars and in stand-alone wireless (networks),” Neal said. “So, the opportunity for us as a company is expanding very rapidly.”

Contact Amy Joyner at 373-7075 or ajoyner@news-record.com.