Some can send and receive e-mail messages. Others can connect to the World Wide Web. It's a wide-open market that's expected to grow 30 percent to 40 percent over the next few years, according to various wireless industry analysts. That's good news for RF Micro Devices, the Greensboro company that makes the tiny gallium arsenide microchips used in many of these mobile telephones. The chips RF Micro produces can be used in a variety of wireless communications devices, such as remote keyless entry products and security devices, but chips for telephone handsets continue to be the company's focus.
Most people see the growth in wireless devices as continuing over a long period of time.
The company has been gobbling up market share from its competitors, and some analysts predict RF Micro's business will grow at a faster rate than the industry, Priddy said. The ranking is based on a composite score, which looks at net income, revenues and two-year return. This was the first year that RF Micro, which went public in 1997, was eligible for the list. RF Micro, which was founded in 1990 by former Analog Devices employees, shows no signs of slowing down. In late 1999, RF Micro Devices was added to the Nasdaq-100 Index.