Following up on Broadcom's acquisition of Global Locate earlier this year [1], WiFi chipmaker Atheros just scooped up GPS chipmaker u-Nav for $54 million. Atheros products also include chipsets for WLAN, Bluetooth and PHS technology. Atheros points to a recent In-Stat forecast of the LBS market to help validate the acquisition: GPS-enabled mobile devices will grow from 180 million units in 2007 to 720 million units in 2011. Atheros will gain 54 u-Nav employees. Atheros will also manage the patent agreement between u-Nav and SiRF moving forward.

For more on the deal:
- read this press release [2]