IN Brief:
- mmWave hardware is pushing beyond lab prototypes into deployable radar and backhaul systems.
- Nxbeam’s GaN and GaAs MMICs span 12.5 GHz to 76 GHz, targeting high-power chains.
- Richardson is pairing distribution with engineering support and lifecycle management.
Richardson Electronics has signed a global technology partner agreement with Nxbeam to supply high-power microwave monolithic microwave integrated circuits, expanding its millimetre-wave catalogue for industrial, aerospace, defence, and communications applications.
Under the agreement, Richardson will offer Nxbeam MMICs covering 12.5 GHz to 76 GHz, with output power specified up to 46 dBm, which is roughly 40 W. That span covers common satellite and radar bands, and stretches into the E-band region used for high-capacity point-to-point links, as well as high-frequency test and measurement applications where power density and linearity are both expensive and unforgiving.
The deal is framed as more than a line-card addition. Richardson is positioning its field engineering and supply chain infrastructure as part of the value, offering application-level support, demand creation, and lifecycle management intended to reduce the risk of specifying a newer mmWave device into programmes that will run for years. Greg Peloquin, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Richardson’s Power & Microwave Technologies and Green Energy Solutions groups, said the company is “excited to partner with Nxbeam” as it expands its portfolio, adding that Nxbeam’s approach aligns with Richardson’s experience in design-in support and engineered solutions.
Nxbeam, founded in 2018, is focused on gallium nitride ICs and integrated RF solutions for next-generation wireless communications, with a portfolio that includes power amplifiers, modules, and transceiver products for satellite and terrestrial links. For system designers, the GaN versus GaAs decision is typically less about fashion and more about where the pain sits: GaN for power density and efficiency under high voltage stress, and GaAs where low-noise and small-signal performance dominate. Many mmWave chains use both, with GaAs in front-end receive paths and GaN carrying the transmit burden.
In practical terms, distribution partnerships in this space often determine whether a promising component becomes a design win or a lab curiosity. mmWave programmes tend to run on tight RF budgets, and they do not tolerate late changes driven by availability, packaging, or inadequate application support. Richardson’s pitch is that it can bridge that gap with global reach and a support model built around design-in continuity, rather than spot supply.
David Farkas, CEO of Nxbeam, said partnering with Richardson brings “the operational scale, engineering support, and global footprint needed to better serve our customers,” letting Nxbeam focus on innovation while improving delivery at volume.
The agreement drops into a market where radar modernisation, satellite capacity upgrades, and higher-frequency test infrastructure are all moving at once, and where the limiting factors are increasingly thermal design, packaging, and repeatable RF performance, not just headline frequency. Richardson and Nxbeam are betting that access plus support will be enough to turn more of those requirements into shipped hardware.
