Here at Dell’Oro Group, we have been asking ourselves why enterprise Wi-Fi 6 has been hit so hard by component shortages — where sequential shipment levels for many manufacturers have declined — when typically new technology shipments rise significantly quarter-to-quarter. We looked deeper into the dynamics of the Enterprise Wireless LAN market and identified three factors that may explain this phenomenon:
- A massive reversal in the permanent trend away from Wi-Fi 5 has disrupted the component planning and manufacturing of Wi-Fi 6.
- Preparing enterprise networks with Wi-Fi 6 for work-from-anywhere usage, particularly in North America, is amplifying demand.
- As wonderful as it is to the entire ecosystem to have governments “raining cash” into the Wireless LAN market, this influx of institutional capital is also amplifying demand.