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]
| Huawei | $92.55 |
 Cisco Systems | $48.00 |
| Ciena | $38.57 |
 Nokia | $27.73 |
 ECI Telecom | $24.16 |
 NEC Corporation | $23.95 |
| Qualcomm | $22.297 |
| ZTE | $16.71 |
| Corning | $10.12 |
| Motorola Solutions | $6.38 |
| Juniper Networks | $5.03 |
| United States | $94.62 | |
| Japan | $62.52 | |
| Finland | $27.73 | |
 Sweden | $24.16 |