SiRF can’t catch a break. Blood-red legal battles with Global Locate/Broadcom reminiscent of the never-ending Nokia-Qualcomm doomsday patent wars; the continued commoditization of GPS chipsets by full-system-on-a-chip 3G mainstreamers like Broadcom, Infineon, Qualcomm, and TI; and the continued PND manufacturer migration away from SiRF silicon to other equal options, all have Wall Street on the offensive hammer continuing to pound & pummel what is otherwise still a very successful company.

It doesn’t take an insider to see the future here is exit by buyout given all the other M&A activity in the GPS silicon area and consolidation towards mainstream supplier ownership. Some recently speculated candidate acquirers to be Intel or Marvell, but the latter option now appears less likely given the recent Marvell-Trimble IP agreement for GPS patent protection, unless, of course, the Marvell-Trimble deal is part of a Trimble strike for SiRF at bottom-dollar prices.