NXP Semiconductors announced today it will acquire GloNav Inc., a US-based fabless semiconductor company that makes chips for global positioning systems (GPS) and other satellite navigation technologies, for as much as $110 million. Under terms of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals and expected to close in the first quarter of 2008, NXP will make an initial cash payment of $85 million. Up to another $25 million will be paid if GloNav meets certain revenue and product development goals over the next two years. GloNav has approximately 50 employees and contractors at locations in Newport Beach, Calif., the UK, Ireland, and Taiwan; they will join NXP's Mobile and Personal business unit. "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," said Frans van Houten, CEO, NXP Semiconductors. The company said that by 2010, approximately 40 percent (about 560 million) of mobile phones will be equipped with the GPS feature. "We already turned the cell phone into a multimedia wallet," van Houten said. "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." "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." For more information, visit: www.nxp.com