RFMD tries another market:
>>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Communications chip maker RF Micro Devices Inc. (NasdaqNM:RFMD - news) on Tuesday said it agreed to buy the Global Positioning System operations of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news) to expand its market presence and customer base.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Greensboro, North Carolina-based RF Micro said it expects the deal to be completed in its fiscal third quarter ending December 31.
Global Positioning System, or GPS, allows precise measurements of geographic locations by relying on a constellation of U.S. government-owned satellites. GPS has become increasingly prevalent in ships, cars, and other modes of transportation, and are also being built into handheld computers and mobile phones.
IBM's GPS business is staffed primarily by engineers and marketing specialists and will be incorporated into RF Micro Devices' communications semiconductor division, RF Micro said. Also, RF Micro will add two design centers, in New York and California, as a result of the transaction.
Industry analysts expect the market for GPS chips to grow to about $1.2 billion in 2005 from about $270 million in 2000, RF Micro said.<<
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Cheers, Tuck |
