Broadcom’s Wireless Internet of Things business will be sold to Cypress Semiconductor Corp in a $550 million deal, Cypress announced on Thursday.
Cypress plans to move further into the consumer IoT market as well as increasing its technology portfolio in its core business, embedded technology including automotive and industrial applications.
Singapore-based Broadcom has a large portfolio of wireless products, including in the smartphone, set-top box, and wireless access segments. The deal transfers Broadcom’s Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Zigbee product lines, as well as the related intellectual property. Broadcom’s IoT business employs 430 people across the world, and generated $189 million in revenue in the last year.
“Cypress is a significant player in the IoT today because of our ultra-low-power PSoC programmable system-on-chip technology, but we’ve only been able to pair it with generic radios so far. Now we have the highly regarded Broadcom IoT business—state-of-the-art Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Zigbee RF technologies—that will transform us into a force in IoT and provide us with new market opportunities as well,” Cypress President and CEO T.J. Rodgers said in a press release.
The acquisition has been approved by the boards of both Broadcom and Cypress and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2016.
Cypress is also undergoing changes in its management, as Rodgers will be stepping down from the position. At the age of 68, he will be leaving in order to fulfill the board’s request to “bring new blood into operations” as well as to continue his own work in technology, particularly silicon. A search is expected to begin for his replacement after he leaves the company this week.
Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)
