Accord Software and Systems expects to supply over 4-5 million Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) chips to commercial as well as passenger vehicle makers in the next 2-3 years, its CEO Murali Krishna S told FE in an interaction.
The comments assume significance as the government has already mandated a NavIC-based vehicle tracking system in all commercial vehicles, and will soon make it must for smartphones to use the NavIC chipsets in addition to other global positioning systems (GPS).
The Bengaluru-based company will begin supplying the chips to its customers from early 2024. It has announced the production of new chips through its fabrication partner GlobalFoundries. It is also evaluating the semiconductor design-linked scheme and will apply for it with its next generation of chips.
For Accord, more than smartphones, supply of NaVIC-powered chipsets to the automobile industry, logistics, aviation, drones sectors and railways is expected to bring in strong revenue opportunities in the coming years.
“Both the government’s keenness to mandate NavIC-powered tracking system in commercial vehicles and the advantages it brings, will drive the demand for our chipsets,” he said.
Developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), NavIC is an independent stand-alone navigation satellite system just like global systems like US-owned GPS, Russia’s GLONASS, China’s BeiDou and Galileo by the European Union.
“Companies may be using say GPS but if you have a NavIC, it will add more satellites, which will make the system much better, in terms of accuracy, availability and continuity,” Krishna S added.
The homegrown navigation system came up again in discussions last month when Apple for the first time included support for NavIC in the iPhone 15 Pro models through Qualcomm chipset. Post the development, minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said, “it is conceivable that in future, the chips that power mobile devices will be NavIC chips”.
When asked about business opportunities from NavIC chipset in smartphones, Krishna S said, “In smartphones or IoT, the opportunity for a company such as Accord would be in licensing our semiconductor IP (intellectual property) to be integrated into such chips.”
Companies like Accord, however, will face competition for their NavIC chipsets in the smartphone market from players such as Qualcomm and MediaTek that already have contracts with smartphone companies to supply their processors and chipsets. Currently, several smartphone companies like Poco, Vivo and Xiaomi support NavIC in their smartphones.
Smartphones/IoT devices use a dedicated large chip for the cellular modem baseband, and GPS/NavIC would typically be absorbed into this customised chip.
Currently, major focus for Accord remains on the non-smartphone segment with its global navigation satellite system (GNSS) as the volumes and scale in those businesses are huge. Like the automotive sector, the company also expects a wide use of NavIC chips once the automatic toll collection system comes in, which will not require vehicles to stop at toll gates.
Similarly, for categories of aerial vehicles such as drones, air mobility of passengers, etc, navigation requirement through NavIC will be a critical application going forward. Further, Isro has included disaster management application in NavIC, which at the time of disasters can provide real-time location and movement of people and vehicles for effective rescue and relief operations.
NavIC can track geographic locations and user movements across India and 1,500 km beyond its territorial boundaries. Isro is soon expected to increase the coverage of NavIC to 3,000 km to expand its global presence.
In order to compete effectively with other global positioning systems and be accepted in other countries widely, NavIC has to have many satellites in order to give a good global coverage, Krishna S said.
