MOST chipmaker SMSC to be taken over by Microchip
According to a joint press release, Microchip will pay some $939 million dollars for SMSCs assets. The partners expect the acquisition to close in the third quarter. Microchip CEO Steve Sanghi said the company regards SMSC’s mixed-signal connectivity solutions aimed at embedded systems could be an "ideal complement" for Microchip’s embedded control business.
The move brings the MOST semiconductor business under Microchip’s control. Within the automotive industry, the fact that SMSC is the sole chip vendor for MOST devices is increasingly regarded as a drawback against industry standard solutions, in particular against the Ethernet PHY driven by the OPEN Alliance. In this context, the MOST cooperation has been advertizing its interest for second-source supplier, but so far without success.
By the time this article was written, neither SMSC nor MOST was available for a statement regarding the future of the MOST technology. In a conference call, Microchip expressed interest in SMSC’s patent and IP portfolio including the MOST business. Sanghi said he hopes that the takeover would help to open the doors of the automotive industry for Microchip, in particular to the infotainment sector.
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