Aiming to extend its product portfolio in the mobile communications space, late last month NXP Semiconductors announced plans to acquire GloNav Inc., a U.S.-based fabless semiconductor company developing single-chip solutions for global positioning systems (GPS) and other satellite navigation systems According to NXP, it will buy the company for US $85 million in cash plus up to US $25 million in cash contingent upon GloNav reaching certain revenue and product development milestones over the next two years.  This latest transaction marks the second major acquisition in a year. Early last year, it acquired Silicon Labs for US$285 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008, subject to regulatory approvals, said NXP.

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“This is the second major acquisition that we have made this year to strengthen our mobile and personal business unit that quickly adds complementary technologies to our existing portfolio and meets our customers’ demands for innovative products. Combining GloNav’s GPS expertise with NXP’s FM Radio, Bluetooth, USB and NFC leadership, enables us to offer a broader connectivity suite to the mobile phone market,” commented Frans van Houten, CEO, NXP Semiconductors.

By 2010, approximately 40% (some 560 million) of mobile phones will be equipped with the GPS feature, according to NXP.  “We already turned the cell phone into a multimedia wallet,” noted van Houten.  “It’s only natural that we also want to use our mobile phones to navigate and to find local goods and services.  GPS integration allows us to create these and many more interesting and dynamic features, continuously enriching the cell phone in our pocket,” added van Houten.

“Becoming part of NXP allows us to achieve the required scale in innovation, and opens up many new markets and customers in order to exploit the significant market potential for GPS.  Our engineers are excited to become part of ambitious leadership projects in state-of-the-art technologies and to join their expertise to one of the leaders in cellular system solutions,” said Bill McLean, GloNav’s CEO.  “We will have access to NXP’s impressive customer base, which includes all the leading handset and device manufacturers.”

GloNav has approximately 50 employees and contractors at locations in the United States, UK, Ireland, and Taiwan.  They will join NXP’s Mobile and Personal Business Unit. 
www.nxp.com