SiRF to unveil smaller, more accurate GPS chips
By Therese Poletti
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 16, (Reuters) - SiRF Technology Inc., a
start-up chip company, plans to unveil a new semiconductor
technology this week that will enable cellular phones and
handheld computers to have navigation functions.
Santa Clara, Calif-based SiRF on Tuesday will announce at
an industry technical conference called HotChips that it has
developed a semiconductor architecture that shrinks the size of
global positioning system (GPS) technology so that it can fit
into small handheld devices. SiRF says it has also increased
the accuracy of its GPS devices.
GPS technology was first developed by the U.S. Department
of Defense, which has an array of about 24 satellites covering
the entire earth. These satellites transmit their positions
which are received by a variety of typically clunky devices
used for navigational purposes by aircraft, ships, missiles and
spacecraft and now increasingly used for recreational boating,
hiking and automobile driving.
By fitting the GPS functions onto a small card a little bit
bigger than a credit card with a few chips, including a GPS
chip the size of a single of a postage stamp, SiRF will make it
possible for companies to create very small GPS-based products
such as wrist watches or lockets, which could be used for
locating lost children, the elderly or to find lost skiers and
hikers.
"This is the first time I can explain to my parents that I
am doing something useful," said Kanwar Chadha, co-founder and
vice president of marketing at SiRF.
He said that when he worked at what is now the world's
largest semiconductor maker, Intel Corp. <INTC.O> in the 1980s
as a product manager, his parents didn't quite understand what
he was doing. "IBM makes computers, why don't you work there?"
they asked him.
Chadha said he had the idea for SiRF while he was working
as the general manager of the multimedia group of S3 Inc.
<SIII.O>, a graphics chip company. He approached Dado Banatao,
a co-founder of Santa Clara, Calif.-based S3, who liked the
idea and funded him with initial seed capital to start SiRF in
1995.
Now, SiRF's other investors include cellular phone giants
Ericsson <LMEb.ST> and Nokia <NOK1V.HE> through their
investment arms, as well as other venture capitalists and who
see the potential in SiRF's technology. The U.S. Federal
Communications Commission is mandating that by 2001, all
cellular phones in the U.S. must have GPS functionality, so
that when calls are made to the 911 emergency network, the
location of the caller can be quickly established.
"That will be the biggest unit market for GPS," said Will
Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, a market research firm
in Tempe, Ariz. Strauss forecasts that by 2003, 38 million
cellular handsets will be shipped with built-in GPS functions,
up from one million phones with GPS in 1999.
SiRF is the third largest chip maker focusing on the
approximately $500 million market for GPS chips, Strauss said,
adding that the market for chips that go into GPS systems will
grow to $1.7 billion in 2003.
"They are siting on the verge of being one of the most
important technology plays over the next 10 years," said Gerry
Purdy, president of Mobile Insights in Mountain View, Calif.
"They have made it possible to put their stuff inside phones
and handhelds to it's not some big pregnant thing that makes it
difficult to carry around."
SiRF is working with many companies who are developing GPS
systems for various markets, such as Holux Technology Inc.,
based in Taiwan, which is developing a device the size of a
small tape recorder to point out attractions to tourists and
Datus Inc., a subsidiary in San Jose, Calif. of Daewoo Telecom
Ltd. <05060.KS>, which has a personal navigation assistant for
automobiles.
The company also plans to announce more partnerships this
week, including one with NTT DoCoMo <9437.T> of Japan, the
world's largest wirel... |
