Report: GPS sector to become $1B market in 2012

GPS unit sales will hit $1 billion in 2012, according to the 2008 Semiconductor Applications Report from Future Horizons. Between 2007 and 2012, GPS unit sales will grow from 286 million to 938 million annually with a CAGR of 26.8 percent (Table 1).



The public first became aware of GPS after the arrival of factory-fitted automotive dashboard-mounted equipment and then after purchasing lower-priced personal navigation devices.

GPS techniques have now been utilized in other applications such as tracking hired vehicles and locating mobile phones in emergency calls. Upcoming applications, according to the report, will be other mobile phone GPS applications such as local traffic and location information services.

Current GPS apps in mobile phone handsets, which all require very low-power chipsets, include the geo-tagging of images in digital cameras, GPS in MP3 players and on watches.

Future Horizons is optimistic that unit sales for GPS will continue to rise, however, chipset revenue will peak during this period as ASPs fall. Eventually, some GPS circuits will become part of more complex radio accessory chips that will include Bluetooth, NFC and Wi-Fi.