Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Silicon Laboratories Acquires Silicon Clocks and CMEMS™ Technology

AUSTIN, Texas, April 28, 2010 - Silicon Laboratories Inc. (Nasdaq: SLAB) today announced the acquisition of Silicon Valley-based Silicon Clocks, an early stage company creating innovative microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology. Silicon Clocks’ CMEMS™ (CMOS+MEMS) technology is aligned with Silicon Labs’ efforts to leverage its CMOS-based timing products into high-volume applications such as consumer electronics.

Silicon Clocks pioneered the development of a MEMS process technology that allows for the fabrication of MEMS resonators and other sensor structures directly on top of standard CMOS wafers. This approach will eliminate the need for boutique semiconductor processing and enables new levels of performance, integration, and size by eliminating the electrical parasitics and packaging issues associated with traditional solutions that co-package a standalone MEMS device and an IC.

“The Silicon Clocks team has created a very innovative MEMS technology that is designed to be compatible with standard CMOS mixed-signal ICs, enabling a new category of timing products that reduce system cost and optimize performance in a tiny footprint,” said Mark Downing, vice president of business development and corporate strategy for Silicon Laboratories. “In addition, we believe this is a strategic technology platform uniquely capable of integrating several different MEMS with their associated CMOS circuitry on the same monolithic die.”

Silicon Clocks will augment Silicon Labs’ R&D team and bring 20 key patents to the company.

About Silicon Clocks
Headquartered in Fremont, CA, Silicon Clocks was founded in 2006 to develop high performance semiconductor timing and sensor designs and its patented CMEMS™ technology. Silicon Clocks was backed by leading venture investors including Tallwood Venture Capital, Charles River Ventures, Formative Ventures, Lux Capital and Silicon Labs. For more information visit www.siliconclocks.com

About Silicon Laboratories Inc.
Silicon Laboratories is an industry leader in the innovation of high-performance, analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs. Developed by a world-class engineering team with unsurpassed expertise in mixed-signal design, Silicon Labs’ diverse portfolio of highly-integrated, easy-to-use products offers customers significant advantages in performance, size and power consumption. These patented solutions serve a broad set of markets and applications including consumer, communications, computing, industrial and automotive.

Headquartered in Austin, TX, Silicon Labs is a global enterprise with operations, sales and design activities worldwide. The company is committed to contributing to our customers’ success by recruiting the highest quality talent to create industry-changing innovations. For more information about Silicon Labs, please visit www.silabs.com

Thursday, April 22, 2010

IDT Acquires Power Module VRM Assets of IKOR, a Subsidiary of iWatt Corporation

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDT®) (NASDAQ:IDTI), a leading provider of essential mixed signal semiconductor solutions that enrich the digital media experience, today announced it has acquired the assets of IKOR, a former subsidiary of iWatt Corporation that manufactures power module VRM solutions for high-performance computing. The all-cash transaction closed on April 16, 2010 and has already received appropriate board approvals.

“IKOR’s innovative power technology complements IDT’s growing power management initiative, allowing us to achieve higher levels of performance and integration,” said Dr. Ted Tewksbury, president and CEO of IDT. “The strength of IKOR’s patented coupled inductor technology uniquely positions IDT to serve the high-performance power management demands of the enterprise computing segment. We welcome IKOR’s expert team of power engineers to the growing analog team at IDT.”

About IDT

With the goal of continuously improving the digital media experience, IDT integrates its fundamental semiconductor heritage with essential innovation, developing and delivering low-power, mixed signal solutions that help customers overcome their system challenges. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., IDT has design, manufacturing and sales facilities throughout the world. IDT stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Stock Market® under the symbol “IDTI.” Additional information about IDT is accessible at www.IDT.com.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Maxim to acquire Teridian for $315M

SUNNYVALE, CA– April 12, 2010 – Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:MXIM) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Teridian Semiconductor Corporation for approximately $315 million in cash.

Acquisition Highlights:

• The acquisition firmly positions Maxim as the technology leader for providing energy measurement and communications electronics to the attractive Smart Meter market.

• Teridian has 50% share in the fast growing system-on-chip (SoC) energy measurement market. Its SoCs, which integrate a highly-accurate analog front end, a microcontroller, and a display driver, are quickly replacing discrete solutions.

• Maxim will build on Teridian’s market position to accelerate sales of Maxim’s existing power management, real-time clock, and interface products, as well as security IP, which are all required in Smart Meters.

• Additionally, Maxim will leverage Teridian’s market position to accelerate the adoption of Maxim’s technology-leading G3 Powerline Communications (PLC) products for use in Smart Meters and high-reliability Smart Grid deployments worldwide.

• The acquisition is immediately accretive excluding acquisition-related charges and amortization.

Teridian is a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Irvine, California. It is a major supplier to 3 of the top 4 major meter manufacturers in the U.S. and to over 50 meter manufacturers globally.

Teridian’s deep system knowledge and strong customer relationships enables Maxim to address the different specifications required of Smart Meters in all regions throughout the world.

Teridian’s key technical differentiator is its innovative architecture which delivers the most accurate power measurement over the widest dynamic range. To optimize time-to-market and reduce cost, meter manufacturers will continue to demand increasing levels of integration and complete system-level solutions. Maxim’s demonstrated ability to combine multiple mixed signal functions will be extremely synergistic in producing highly-integrated SoCs and complete system solutions that meet these requirements.

Smart Meter units using both SoC and multi-chip solutions are estimated to grow 10% annually through 2014. Since SoC based implementations are estimated to go from approximately one third of Smart Meters to a substantial majority over that same period, the demand for SoCs will increase at a much faster pace. Maxim projects its serviceable available market (SAM) for the energy measurement portion of Smart Meters to reach $380 million by 2014. In addition, the Company estimates an additional $375 million of SAM in fiscal year 2014 for other Maxim support and communications products used in Smart Meters and related Smart Grid
applications.

Maxim CEO Tunc Doluca remarked, “Global Smart Grid investment is essential to use power plants and transmission networks more efficiently. Energy measurement and grid communications are key components of the smart grid and necessitate the deployment of new electronic meters to replace older meters worldwide. The addition of the Teridian team and product line to Maxim will significantly accelerate our penetration in this fast-developing market and will help us maintain our balanced business model.”

Teridian CEO, Jerry Fitch commented “Teridian is working with manufacturers to enable the global trend toward improving energy efficiency and conservation via ubiquitous energy measurement. As part of Maxim, we will be able to provide more comprehensive solutions to these customers.”