Telecommunications equipment (also telecoms equipment or communications equipment) is a type of hardware which is used for the purposes of telecommunications.
Since the 1990s the boundary between telecoms equipment and IT hardware has become blurred as a result of the growth of the internet and its increasing role in the transfer of telecoms data.
[1][2] Telecommunications equipment can be broadly broken down into the following categories:[3] Most of the essential elements of modern telecommunication are built from MOSFETs (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors), including mobile devices, transceivers, base station modules, routers, RF power amplifiers,[4] microprocessors, memory chips, and telecommunication circuits.
[5] As of 2005, telecommunications equipment account for 16.5% of the annual microprocessor market.
[6] The world's largest telecommunications equipment vendors by revenues in 2017 are:[7]