X-Fab set to buy Chinese MOSFET developer
X-Fab Silicon Foundries SE (Tessenderlo, Belgium) has announced it is acquiring M-MOS Semiconductor Hong Kong Ltd., a fabless vendor of MOSFETs, for €22.5 million.
M-MOS is by owned Xtrion NV, which up until November 2023 had been the majority owner of X-Fab, so the purchase represents a continuation of Xtrion NV’s divestment and essentially a re-organization.
Because of the past relationship between Xtrion NV and X-Fab it was necessary under stock market rules that the proposed deal be reviewed for any conflict of interest.
M-MOS is a fabless company specialized in the development of MOSFET technologies and the design of custom MOSFET devices. The MOSFET wafers that M-MOS sells mainly into the industrial, consumer, and automotive markets are manufactured by X-Fab. In 2022 M-MOS recorded revenues of US$32.0 million.
Family affair
In November 2023, Xtrion NV sold all its shares in X-Fab to its indirect shareholders, Elex NV and Sensinnovat BV, which are the investment vehicles of the Duchâtelet and De Winter-Chombar families, respectively. The De Winter-Chombar and Duchâtelet families now each hold 30.7 percent of the shares in X-Fab, while Sarawak Technology Holdings Sdn Bhd holds 35.2 percent.
“X-Fab started its discrete devices business more than 20 years ago in Erfurt, Germany, followed by trench MOSFETs we have been producing for M-MOS at our Malaysian site in Kuching,” said Rudi De Winter, CEO of X-Fab group, in a statement.
De Winter added that X-Fab has added other forms of discrete power semiconductor business including silicon carbide technology at X-Fab Texas and gallium nitride at X-Fab Dresden. “I am convinced that the process and product design know-how but also the market know-how of M-MOS will help to accelerate X-Fab’s discrete
business development going forward.”
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