Benzinga | Jan 29, 2021 07:08AM EST

Akoustis Receives Volume Order From A Third Tier-1 Customer For 5.5/6.5 GHz WiFi 6E XBAW Coexistence Filter Solutions

-- Tandem WiFi 6E BAW Coexistence RF Filters to Be Used in New MU-MIMO Router Product --

-- Customer's Product Expected to Enter Production in Second Half of CY2021 --

-- XBAW Filter Solution Offers Superior Coexistence Enabling Use of Entire New WiFi 6E Frequency Spectrum --



Charlotte, N.C., Jan. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) ("Akoustis" or the "Company"), an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today that it has received a volume order for its 5.5 GHz and 6.5 GHz XBAW(r) WiFi 6E filter solutions from a new tier-1 customer.

The 5.5 GHz filter module covers the entire 5.1 to 5.8 GHz spectrum of the WiFi 6E standard, while the 6.5 GHz filter module covers the entire 5.9 to 7.1 GHz spectrum. The customer is building a MU-MIMO router using multiple XBAW(r) filters per device, targeting the consumer market. The Company expects the product to enter production in the second half of calendar 2021.

Dave Aichele, EVP of Business Development at Akoustis, stated, "The demand for our WiFi 6E XBAW(r) filters is robust given our superior selectivity performance." Mr. Aichele continued, "We are leading the development of BAW-based micro-filter solutions for the WiFi 6E market for CPE devices as well as gaining interest from the 5G mobile handset market and we expect our WiFi 6E business to drive significant revenue growth moving forward."

The FCC announced in late April the approval of 5.925 to 7.125 GHz for unlicensed use, which is the largest spectrum addition since the FCC allocated unlicensed spectrum for WiFi in 1989. The next generation of WiFi that is expected to use these new frequency bands is called WiFi 6E. This approval will create another significant new band, or combination of bands, over the next several years. Since the FTC's April announcement, governments around the world have begun allocating the same or similar spectrum for future WiFi use.

Akoustis' high frequency, high performance XBAW(r) process and filters are experiencing growing interest as the Company entered production in multiple markets in calendar 2020, including 5G network infrastructure, high-band WiFi and phased-array radar applications.

Akoustis has added 15 filters to its product catalog including a 5.6 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.2 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.5 GHz WiFi-6E filter, a 6.5 GHz WiFi 6E filter, three small cell 5G network infrastructure filters including two Band n77 filters and one Band n79 filter, a 3.8 GHz filter and five S-Band filters for defense phased-array radar applications, a 3.6 GHz filter for the CBRS 5G infrastructure market and a C-Band filter for the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market. The Company is also developing several new filters for the sub-7 GHz bands targeting 5G mobile device, network infrastructure, WiFi CPE and defense markets.