MENU

Semtech buys Sierra Wireless in $1.2bn deal

Semtech buys Sierra Wireless in $1.2bn deal

Business news |
By Nick Flaherty



Mixed signal chip designer Semtech is to buy wireless module maker Sierra Wireless in a definitive deal worth $1.2bn.

The deal significantly expands Semtech’s addressable market with a range of cellular IoT modules alongside its LoRa low power wireless chips. It is expected to approximately double Semtech’s annual revenue with cloud and software services.

Semtech says it expects the combination of Sierra Wireless’ cellular capabilities across its modules, gateways and managed connectivity together with Semtech’s LoRa-enabled end nodes.

This follows cellular module maker Telit buying the IoT business of Thales to similarly expand its addressable market and the LoRaWAN technology being made an international standard. 

Semtech is the main supplier of transceiver chips for the LoRa standard after acquiring French developer Cycleo in May 2012 and IoT service provider Trackio for about $8.4m in 2018, and also designs chips for circuit protection, signal integrity on high speed datacoms and video.

The deal puts Semtech into direct competition with LPWAN module makers such as Murata and RAKwireless Technology, although other chip makers such as ST Microelectronics now support LoRaWAN as well as cellular protocols.  

“We believe the next era of technology growth is the full digitization of our industrial world – the Internet of Everything. Our vision is to build a simple, horizontal platform with the goal of accelerating this transformation and to bring about a smarter and more sustainable planet,” said Mohan Maheswaran, president and chief executive officer of Semtech.

“This exciting strategic acquisition of Sierra Wireless is a critical part of bringing this vision to life through the combination of cellular, LoRa and Cloud services. Together, with the world-class Sierra Wireless engineering team, we will be positioned to advance the market with multi-radio solutions that bring new chip-to-Cloud services to support customers and grow our business.”

“Over the last year, Sierra Wireless has taken decisive steps to profitably grow the business, and I am proud that the progress we have made has culminated in this exciting transaction. Together with Semtech, we will be able to extend the reach of IoT solutions by scaling, optimizing and ultimately delivering an even stronger product portfolio and service model to customers,” said Phil Brace, president and chief executive officer of Sierra Wireless.

“Sierra Wireless is a high growth business with some of the best, most advanced IoT technology in the industry, and we are pleased to deliver immediate and compelling value to our shareholders through this transaction. Joining Semtech will also allow us to bring cellular and LoRa technology together to create innovative solutions that exceed the expectations of our customers around the world while delivering exciting career opportunities to our talented employees as part of the combined company,” he said.

Semtech recently added 2.4GHz and S-band satellite connectivity to its chips to boost the use in supply chain, logistics and asset management, particularly with utilities, including water, gas and electric metering as well as smart cities and building, including air quality monitoring and public safety and smart agriculture.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sierra Wireless shareholders will receive US$31 per share, a premium of approximately 30%.

www.semtech.com

Other articles on eeNews Europe  

 

If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :    eeNews on Google News

Share:

Linked Articles
10s