Tier-1 Wireless Telecommunications Company Selects Akoustis to Develop a Sub-6 GHz BAW Filter For 5G Mobile Handsets
– Filter Will Address Co-Existence Challenges Created by New 5G Mobile Spectrum –
– Akoustis Selected Given the Unique Capability of its XBAW Technology at High Frequencies –
Charlotte, N.C., May 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), a designer and manufacturer of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today it has received a purchase order from a multi-billion dollar tier-1 wireless telecommunications company to develop a co-existence BAW RF filter for 5G spectrum addressing mobile handsets and other wireless devices.
This is the first purchase order the Company has received for 5G mobile RF BAW filters and the 5G Mobile market represents the largest future opportunity for Akoustis in both unit sales and revenue. According to a February 2019 published report from Gartner, more than 1.5 billion mobile smartphones were sold in 2018.
Under the terms of the order, Akoustis will use its patented and proprietary XBAW™ technology to develop a high-band BAW filter for mobile handsets to address the co-existence challenges associated with emerging 5G frequency bands. Akoustis was chosen by this new tier-1 customer given its unique ability to provide BAW filter solutions up to 7 GHz that can offer the high performance necessary to deal with the co-existence of closely-spaced frequency bands.
Akoustis expects to deliver first filter samples to the customer by the end of the current quarter.
Jeff Shealy, Founder and CEO of Akoustis, stated, “The 5G handset market represents the most meaningful revenue opportunity for Akoustis. This key milestone is a testament to the enormous progress we have made in commercializing our patented high frequency XBAW RF filter technology over the past year.”
Mr. Shealy continued, “As the sub-6 GHz 5G new radio (NR) mid-band resides between 3.3 GHz to 5 GHz, future filter solutions to resolve co-existence issues in 5G mobile handsets are right in our sweet spot. We have already developed commercial filter products at 3.8 GHz, 5.2 GHz and 5.6 GHz, proving that we can produce BAW RF filters at the higher frequencies associated with 5G. As a result, we are in discussions with multiple large mobile handset companies seeking high frequency co-existence filter technology.”
In July 2018, Akoustis announced that it completed the qualification of its first generation XBAW wafer technology and the underlying high purity piezoelectric materials process at its Canandaigua, NY fabrication facility. Akoustis has recently developed 5.2 GHz and 5.6 GHz WiFi co-existence filters, a 3.8 GHz filter for defense phased-array radar applications, a 3.6 GHz filter for the CBRS infrastructure market, and Band 25 downlink and uplink filters for LTE infrastructure. The Company is also developing several new filters for the sub-6 GHz bands targeting 5G mobile device, network infrastructure, WiFi CPE and defense markets.
For customers interested in XBAW filters for 5G mobile devices or other applications, please contact Akoustis at: sales@akoustis.com.
Akoustis will host an investor call to provide a business update and outlook on May 13, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Management will host a question and answer session at the end of the call.
To listen to the call by telephone, please dial (877) 407-9208 (domestic) or (201) 493-6784 (international). The conference call will be webcast live on the Company’s website and will be available for playback at the following URL: https://ir.akoustis.com/ir-calendar.
About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
Akoustis® (www.akoustis.com) is a high-tech BAW RF filter solutions company that is pioneering next-generation materials science and MEMS wafer manufacturing to address the market requirements for improved RF filters - targeting higher bandwidth, higher operating frequencies and higher output power compared to incumbent polycrystalline BAW technology deployed today. The Company utilizes its proprietary XBAW manufacturing process to produce bulk acoustic wave RF filters for mobile and other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back end. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of high-purity, single-crystal and associated piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology which drives electro-mechanical coupling and translates to wide filter bandwidth.
Akoustis plans to service the fast growing multi-billion-dollar RF filter market using its integrated device manufacturer (IDM) business model. The Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq. ft. ISO-9001:2015 certified commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a class 100 / class 1000 cleanroom facility - tooled for 150-mm diameter wafers - for the design, development, fabrication and packaging of RF filters, MEMS and other semiconductor devices. Akoustis Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in the Piedmont technology corridor near Charlotte, North Carolina.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the “safe harbor” created by those sections. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans or strategies for the future (including our possible future results of operations, business strategies, competitive position, potential growth opportunities, potential market opportunities and the effects of competition), and the assumptions underlying such statements. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and typically are identified by use of terms such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," “intend,” “forecast,” “seek,” "potential," "continue" and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, these forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated include, without limitation, risks relating to the results of our research and development activities, including uncertainties relating to semiconductor process manufacturing; the development of our XBAWTM technology and products presently under development and the anticipated timing of such development; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights that are valuable to our business, including patent and other intellectual property rights; our ability to successfully manufacture, market and sell products based on our technologies; the ability to achieve qualification of our products for commercial manufacturing in a timely manner and the size and growth of the potential markets for any products so qualified; the rate and degree of market acceptance of any of our products; our ability to raise funding to support operations and the continued development and qualification of our products and the technologies underlying them; and our ability to service our outstanding indebtedness. These and other risks and uncertainties are described in more detail in the Risk Factors and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Considering these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances discussed in this document may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking statements included in this document speak only as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly or privately any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, for any reason after the date of this document to conform these statements to new information, actual results or to changes in our expectations.
Contact: COMPANY: Tom Sepenzis Akoustis Technologies VP of Corporate Development & IR (980) 689-4961 tsepenzis@akoustis.com The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc. Robert B. Prag, President (858) 794-9500 bprag@delmarconsulting.com
Released May 10, 2019