Navigation company sold to increase innovation

GloNav Inc., a Newport Beach-based computer chip manufacturer, is set to be sold to a Dutch company for as much as $110 million.

NXP Semiconductors, headquartered in the Netherlands, announced this week it planned to purchase the company, which produces chips for global positioning systems and satellite navigation systems. GloNav has about 50 workers in England, Ireland and Newport Beach.

“Becoming part of NXP allows us to achieve the required scale in innovation, and opens up major new markets and customers in order to exploit the significant market potential for [global positioning systems],” GloNav Chief Executive Bill McLean said in a release.

The deal is expected to close early next year.

— Michael Miller