RF Micro Devices, Inc. (RFMD) of Greensboro, North Carolina, a provider of proprietary radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) for wireless communications applications, announced a reorganization around three core businesses: wireless connectivity (including GPS), cellular, and infrastructure. The company forecasts total market growth in these areas to approximately $6 billion in three years.
Wireless Unit. The company's wireless connectivity business unit develops and produces components and SoC (system on a chip) solutions for Bluetooth, GPS, and wireless local area networks (WLANs). RFMD is developing custom GPS solutions to support location-based services in the handset and mobile computing markets, and wire-less connectivity solutions such as a GPS/Bluetooth module. Strong demand from cell phone handset manufacturers for Bluetooth products have led RFMD to ramp up production volumes of Bluetooth components for wireless handset and headsets, printers, and PC peripherals. RFMD supplies highly integrated single-chip CMOS radio processors as well as stand-alone CMOS Bluetooth radio modem solutions.
RF Micro acquired IBM's GPS division in December, 2001. The company currently produces the RF-8009 12-channel L1 GPS chipset.
Bluetooth Buy. RFMD will acquire Silicon Wave, Inc., a privately held San Diego, California-based company that supplies integrated circuits for wireless personal area networks (WPANs). Silicon Wave's Bluetooth product portfolio includes highly integrated single-chip CMOS radio processors (including the radio modem and digital baseband functions), as well as stand-alone CMOS radio modem solutions. Silicon Wave's Bluetooth products are currently in production and in use supporting multiple applications, including cellular handsets, PC peripherals, and consumer electronics devices. Based on existing Bluetooth design activity, RFMD anticipates quarterly Bluetooth revenue will increase sequentially throughout its current fiscal year ending March 31, 2005.
Some analysts anticipate the Bluetooth market will grow more than six-fold over the next three years; meanwhile, GPS/Bluetooth integrations appear with increasing frequency (see Navman story in this news section).
Other Units. RFMD's cellular division will focus on power amplifier (PA) products, small signal devices, and transceiver solutions for major air interface standards, including GSM/GPRS, EDGE, CDMA and WCDMA. Its infrastructure business unit focuses on components for wireless base stations.
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