The 1.53μm gain characteristics of Er<sub>x</sub>Yb(Y)<sub>2-x</sub>SiO<sub>5</sub> nanowire and film material waveguide amplifiers have been investigated considering the upconversion effect by solving rate equations and propagation equations. The gains of Er<sub>x</sub>Yb(Y)<sub>2-x</sub>SiO<sub>5</sub> nanowire waveguides have a significant enhancement compared with those of film material waveguides due to low propagation loss and long photoluminescence lifetime. The cooperative upconversion (CUC) effect plays a significant role in the simulation. The maximum 27dB/mm gain for a 1mm length Er<sub>x</sub>Yb(Y)<sub>2-x</sub>SiO<sub>5</sub> nanowire waveguide was obtained without CUC, and only about 2dB/mm gain was obtained with CUC. However, the low thresholds of 10.7 and 0.7mW, respectively, for the Er<sub>x</sub>Y<sub>2-x</sub>SiO<sub>5</sub> and Er<sub>x</sub>Yb<sub>2-x</sub>SiO<sub>5</sub> nanowire waveguides amplifiers were observed with CUC by analyzing the relation between optical gain and the Er/Yb/Y concentration, waveguide length, waveguide cross section area, energy-level lifetime, and pumping power coefficients. The low threshold is two to three orders of magnitude lower than the threshold used in thin film experiments.