Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), a global leader in satellite navigation, announced it is opening an office in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina that will expand its R&D capability in the area of wireless and mobile products.

The new facility will help augment the company’s efforts in the rapidly growing wireless and mobile handset market. At the outset, Garmin is seeking to hire as many as 40 associates who are experienced wireless development, wireless software, and handset certification engineers. The Raleigh-Durham area offers a large pool of highly-skilled engineering talent, thanks to the area’s many excellent universities and high-tech companies. Founded in 1989, Garmin is based in Olathe, Kansas, and posted US$1.89 billion in revenues through the third quarter of 2009 and has more than 8,500 associates worldwide.