Ten deals that shaped analog, MEMS and sensors in 2014
Nonetheless it is easy to find ten major deals that changed the shape of the analog, MEMS and sensor business. However, the largest deals were at the RF and microwave end of the spectrum.
1) Qualcomm grabs CSR plc
In October it was announced that Qualcomm Inc. had agreed to buy fabless chip company CSR plc (Cambridge, England) for about $2.5 billion. This complemented an announcement in July 2014 when CSR said it would be selling its imaging operations based in Israel, to Qualcomm for $44 million. Qualcomm snaps up CSR’s imaging team
2) ADI acquires Hittite Microwave Corp.
In July Analog Devices Inc. closed a $2 billion deal to acquire Hittite Microwave Corp. Mike Britchfield, vice president of European, Middle-east and Africa sales at Analog Devices, explained some of thinking behind the deal here. ADI swallows Hittite, gains acquisition skill
3) Murata acquires Peregrine
Peregrine pioneered use of CMOS silicon-on-insulator techniques for radio frequency functions under its UltraCMOS brand. It demonstrated the use of CMOS SOI for several functions that had previously required compound semiconductors, these indluded switches, filters and amplifiers, which it combined into Global 1, an integrated front-end for mobile handsets spanning all frequency bands used worldwide. Murata acquired them for $471 million. Murata to acquire Peregrine Semiconductor
4) On Semi snaps up Aptina Imaging
Back in June On Semiconductor Corp. (Phoenix, Ariz.) agreed a deal to buy fabless CMOS image sensor company Aptina Imaging Corp. (San Jose, Calif.) for $400 million in cash. On Semi to buy Aptina for $400 million
Next: from Exar to Kodak
5) Exar buys Integrated Memory Logic
In April Exar Corp. offered to buy Integrated Memory Logic Ltd. a fabless chip company providing ICs for the flat panel display market for NT$6.8 billion (about US$223 million). Exar buys Taiwanese display, lighting chip company
6) Megachips buys SiTime
In October Japanese fabless chip company MegaChips Corp. (Osaka, Japan) agreed to buy SiTime Corp. (Sunnyvale, Calif.), a pioneer of MEMS resonator devices as replacements for quartz timing devices, for $200 million in cash. The deal closed in November. Japan’s MegaChips to buy MEMS maker SiTime
7) On Semi again
In April On Semi agreed to buy Truesense Imaging Inc. (Rochester, New York) for $92 million funded by cash on its balance sheet.On Semi buys former Kodak image sensor business
Next: From InvenSense to AMS
8) InvenSense moves on Movea
InvenSense – best known as a provider of inertial MEMS sensors but which is also in the MEMS microphone business through a previous acquisition – picked up Movea SA and Trusted Positioning Inc. for $81 million with a goal of creating context-awareness platforms based on the mix of audio, movement.
9) Audience buys SensorPlatforms
In July Audience Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.)– best known as a provider of audio and noise suppression processors – announced it was buying Sensor Platforms for $41 million to help it expand into sound-plus-motion context awareness. Audience, InvenSense buy up sensor fusion software firms
10) AMS buys sensor companies
Austria’s AMS was on the acquisition trail in 2014 and made two purchases for undisclosed sums. In June AMS agreed to buy AppliedSensor GmbH (Reutlingen, Germany) for an undisclosed amount of cash. AMS set to buy German gas sensor firm
And in December the company announced the acquisition of Acam-messelectronic (Stutensee, Germany), a vendor of time-based measurement technology and related sensor solutions, again for an undisclosed sum. AMS acquires German timing sensor company
But the biggest deal of the year is one that didn’t happen. A “merger-of-equals” between AMS and Dialog Semiconductor plc was a possibility in June. The merger could have created a European company with more than $1.4 billion in annual sales but AMS said in a statement posted July 22, that it had terminated discussions. Similarly Dialog said that it had been unable to agree terms and regarding a possible merger of equals of the two companies. AMS, Dialog merger talks fail
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