GPS IC Market Vendor Matrix

This ABI Research Vendor Matrix compares and ranks the top GPS IC (Integrated Circuit) manufacturers. Both fabless and fabricator semiconductor vendors are included. Two sets of criteria are used to score the vendors: implementation and innovation. 

Implementation Criteria:
  • Market Share
  • Consumer Market Focus
  • Professional, Industrial, and Military Market Focus
  • Fabricator (as opposed to Fabless)
  • Key Customer Wins

Innovation Criteria:

  • Multiple RF Integration
  • RF IC Solutions
  • Baseband IC Solutions
  • Single-Chip Solutions: Ability to Implement RF and Baseband Processor on a Single Die
  • Wireless Assistance Data Support (A-GPS)
  • Satellite-Based Augmentation System Support (SBAS): Support for EGNOS and WAAS 

Manufacturers profiled include Air Semiconductor, Atheros, Atmel, Broadcom, CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio), Maxim, Nemerix, NXP, Qualcomm, SiRF, SkyTraq, Texas Instruments, and u-blox.

Top 10 Listing:


Rankings



After individual scores are established for Innovation and Implementation using the above criteria, an overall company score is established using the Root Mean Square (RMS) method:




The resulting overall scores are then ranked and used for percentile comparisons.

The RMS method, in comparison with a straight summation or average of individual innovation and implementation values, rewards companies for standout performance.

For example, using this method a company with an innovation score of 9 and an implementation score of 1 would score considerably higher than a company with a score of 5 in both areas, despite the mean score being the same. ABI Research believes this is appropriate as the goal of these matrices is to highlight those companies that stand out from the others.