CSR, SiRF to launch new era of connectivity and location

CAMBRIDGE, UK & SAN JOSE, USA: CSR plc and SiRF Technology Holdings Inc. completed the merger between SiRF and a wholly owned subsidiary of CSR, creating a leading pure play provider of connectivity and location platforms and a company with the scale, technology and strategy to enable its customers to address the exciting and emerging opportunities in mobile markets.

The merger yields an enlarged development team, a strong IP portfolio, and a broad base of market leading customers. Customers of the enlarged CSR group will be able to deliver new user experiences of connectivity and location technologies in a diverse range of devices such as mobile phones, personal navigation devices, in-car navigation and telematics systems, laptop and netbook PCs, mobile Internet devices, digital cameras, gaming machines, cellular accessories, and consumer electronic devices.

Joep van Beurden, CEO of CSR said: “In bringing together the combined capabilities and broad range of CSR and SiRF technologies and platforms, we have created a new force in the industry and a world class organisation with the commercial, technical and operational scale to build on CSR and SiRF’s existing customer relationships and deliver the next generation of connectivity and location enabled products.

“Our strategic goal is to address the existing and emerging needs of our combined customer base for connectivity and location technologies. The potential applications and benefits to the end user of connectivity plus location are only just starting to open up, and these exciting new opportunities will be driven by our unique combination of leading location technologies and connectivity solutions.”

“CSR and SiRF have a shared vision of using innovation to bring the benefits of wireless connectivity and location to mainstream consumers and enterprises and to enable new and exciting user experiences”, commented Kanwar Chadha, co-founder of SiRF and newly appointed board member and Chief Marketing Officer of CSR. “We believe that through this merger, our customers and consumers will derive benefits from a much stronger player whose focus is on delivering best in class connectivity and location platforms.”

“Technology innovation represents the foundation for both CSR’s and SiRF’s success in the market place,” said James Collier, co-founder, board member and CTO of CSR. “We look forward to combining the complementary expertise of our teams to take innovation to the next level in our multifunction radio and system platforms to address emerging customer and market needs.”

For CSR’s customers, the merger with SiRF means CSR’s Connectivity Centre products are augmented by GPS technologies that are well respected and enjoy widespread adoption. SiRF brings to CSR a strong IP portfolio in GPS and assisted GPS (A-GPS), dead reckoning and location centric platforms.

SiRF’s customers benefit from enhancements to SiRF’s Location Platforms, with CSR’s Connectivity Centre capabilities and strategy of Smart Integration delivering industry leading performance, low cost and small size.

The enlarged CSR group will have its global headquarters in Cambridge, UK, with SiRF’s headquarters in San Jose, California becoming CSR’s US headquarters.

The combined CSR group enters the prestigious list of the world’s top 10 fabless semiconductor companies, with an enviable combined customer list including six of the top seven handset manufacturers, the top five personal navigation device makers, the top two automotive telematics suppliers, and other leading auto and consumer electronics providers.