At present, the construction of 5G base stations in mainland China is progressing in an orderly manner. By the end of 2022, the number of 5G base stations in mainland China had reached 2.312 million, with a net annual increase of 887,000, and the number of 5G users exceeded 561 million, with a global share of more than 60%. The proportion of 5G base stations in mobile base stations rose to 21.3%, an increase of 7 percentage points. At the same time, 110 cities meet the gigabit city standard, and the gigabit optical network coverage capacity exceeds 500 million households.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, by the end of September 2023, the total number of 5G base stations will reach 3.189 million. According to the forecast of the Prospective Industry Research Institute, by the end of 2025, the number of 5G base stations in mainland China is expected to reach 3.9 million, and by the end of 2027, it will further approach 4.3 million. #5G##5G base station##chip##communication##射频#
Overview of the 5G base station industry
As a representative of the new generation of mobile communication technology, 5G has become a key entrance to connect everything and laid a solid foundation for the digital economy.
From the perspective of the development history of mobile communications, from 2G to 5G, each generation of technology upgrades is aimed at expanding bandwidth.
The continuous increase in communication bandwidth means that the channel capacity can be increased to support higher transmission rates.
In 5G networks, base stations, as the core infrastructure, play a pivotal role.
5G base stations are mainly responsible for providing wireless coverage and ensuring smooth wireless signal transmission between wired communication networks and wireless terminals.
The architecture and form of 5G base stations directly determine the deployment mode and application effect of 5G networks.
Since 2019, mainland operators have started large-scale bidding for the construction of 5G base stations. At the same time, operators' capital expenditures in the 5G space have also increased significantly.
The large-scale construction of 5G base stations has not only promoted the progress of the communication industry, but also led to the rapid development of a large number of related industries.
5G base station industry chain
The 5G base station industry chain covers all aspects from design, planning, construction, operation and maintenance, and application, each of which is indispensable, and jointly builds a complete and prosperous 5G ecosystem.
Wireless base stations and data centers are the core facilities for data transmission and storage in the 5G era, and play a vital role in the operation of 5G networks.
In a macro base station, optical modules, RF modules, and base station antennas constitute the most important components.
In order to support these core facilities, it is also necessary to have complete supporting facilities, including power supply equipment, optical fiber, and equipment rooms.
Diagram of the upstream supply chain of 5G base stations:
Source: Xingxingcha
The midstream of the 5G base station industry chain mainly gathers the core equipment and related devices of the base station.
It includes the main equipment of the base station, such as routers and switches, as well as key parts such as small base stations, optical communication equipment and network engineering construction. The design and manufacture of these devices requires important components such as RFs, antennas, PCB panels, and filters.
Focusing on the small base station market segment, the mainland's strategy in the past mainly relied on the deployment of macro base stations, so the small base station market is relatively fragmented, and the competition pattern is still unclear.
At present, there are many enterprises involved in the field of small base stations, including mainstream telecommunications equipment manufacturers, chip manufacturers, and many small and medium-sized equipment manufacturers.
Diagram of 5G base station industry chain:
Base station antennas
The advent of the 5G era has brought about a huge change in antenna technology.
Compared with 4G antennas, 5G antennas have a more complex structure and a significant increase in integration, which not only brings technical challenges, but also breeds an increase in industrial value.
Due to the upward shift of 5G network frequency bands, the coverage area of a single base station has shrunk, and the number of base stations has also increased to ensure the continuity of communication services, which is further driving the expansion of the 5G antenna market.
From the perspective of product form, 5G antennas are very different from the past. The number of antenna ports has increased from 8 to 32, 64, or even 128, which means that the traditional feeder connection between the RF unit and the antenna is no longer suitable, and the antenna must be integrated with the RRU (Remote Radio Unit).
In addition, components such as distributed amplifiers, filtering, ADCs (analog-to-digital converters), DACs (digital-to-analog converters) and other components will also be built into the antennas.
Compared with the 8 channels in the 4G era, the 64 channels of 5G need to increase the power amplifier, filtering, ADC, and DAC by 8 times.
In terms of suppliers, Huawei's antenna oscillator suppliers have gradually changed from mold factories to professional antenna factories, such as Shuobeide, Xinwei Communications, Feirongda, Dongchuang Precision, Zhaowei, etc. ZTE has chosen Shuobeide, Kexinyuan, Tongda Group, Nandouxing, etc. as its main antenna oscillator suppliers.
Antenna and RF Integration in the 5G Era:
Base station RF
Compared to RRUs (Remote Radio Units), 5G AAUs (Active Antenna Units) are more feature-rich.
In addition to RF processing, 5G AAUs also need to complete some of the underlying baseband processing tasks.
The division of the CU/DU layer is still in the 3GPP discussion stage, so it has not yet been determined how many of the underlying physical layer functions will be classified into the AAU.
As the physical layer functions are integrated into the AAU, some of the baseband processing FPGA chips will also be packaged into the AAU to ensure the consistency of the AAU antenna array.
This change means that the integration and complexity of AAUs will increase further, and it also represents the continuous progress and evolution of 5G technology.
In this trend, AAUs will become more powerful, but their design and production challenges will also increase.
5G base station RF architecture diagram:
Source: ZTE
According to CCID think tank's calculation data, China's 5G network small base station demand is about twice that of macro base stations.
This means that China expects to deploy around 10 million small cells to meet the growing demand for 5G networks. This large demand for base stations has brought huge market opportunities to the related industry chain.
Considering that each small base station needs to be equipped with 2 amplifiers during the construction process, and the current construction progress of small base stations is about 1 year behind that of macro base stations, the construction of small base stations will show an accelerated trend in the next few years.
Tuoqi Industry Research Institute predicts that by 2024, the market size of GaN RF devices at the base station end will reach a peak, and its market size can reach 940 million yuan by then.
Base station filters
With the wide application of 5G technology, ceramic dielectric waveguide filters have gradually become the mainstream choice of the industry.
In the 5G era, the application of Massive MIMO technology and active antennas has put forward higher requirements for filters, especially in terms of miniaturization and lightweight.
In order to adapt to this technological change, the filter industry is undergoing a major technological upgrade, evolving from metal cavity filters in the 4G era to ceramic dielectric filters.
In this technology, Huawei mainly promotes pure dielectric waveguide filters, while other equipment manufacturers mainly choose semi-dielectric or miniaturized metal filters in the early stage. With the development of technology, the advantages of pure dielectric waveguide filters will become more obvious.
The application of Massive MIMO technology has led to a significant increase in RF pathways, which also means that the number and value of filters corresponding to a single base station will be significantly increased.
In terms of supply chain, Huawei's suppliers mainly include well-known enterprises such as Canqin, Dongshan Precision, Tatfook Technology, and Wuhan Fangu. ZTE, on the other hand, cooperates with companies such as Sega Technology, Mobi Development, and Guoren Communications.
Ceramic dielectric waveguide filters have become a mainstream trend in the 5G era, and with the in-depth deployment and technology upgrading of 5G networks, this market will continue to grow and bring huge business opportunities to the related industry chain.
Some representative manufacturers of the upstream and downstream industry chain of 5G base stations:
Source: Public collation
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