US space and defense electronics company TRW Inc, is starting up a new telecommunications division, with the aim of transferring technologies it developed in the military into the commercial market. The division, to be formed within a month, is expected to bring in $4bn of revenue within a decade. TRW turns over approximately $12bn a year, and has pioneered ultra-fast Gallium Arsenide semiconductor chips, as digital processing elements in communications satellites. The chips have now got applications in data, fixed and mobile communications, and TRW anticipates a market of $50m in 1998, and $100m in 1999. TRW is also going to be selling its satellite telecoms expertise, either alone, or in conjunction with partners to the new batch of private communications ventures, including Iridium LLC, Celestri Inc, Teledesic Corp and Globalstar.
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