The report analyzes the semiconductor products required for a 5G radio access network (RAN) infrastructure, including baseband unit (BBU) and active antenna unit (AAU)/remote radio unit (RRU) systems. The analysis concludes that while the US has a 45% share of the global semiconductor market, substitutes for US components exist for nearly every semiconductor product family required for a complete RAN infrastructure. Only three components could face supply constraints outside the US in the event of an export restriction, and alternatives are currently being deployed or under active development, especially within China by Huawei's semiconductor design arm, HiSilicon. The two key semiconductor product families that may present supply issues outside the US are commercial off-the-shelf Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and 10Gbps Ethernet PHY Transceivers/Switches.
