Cypress has bought Broadcom’s Internet of Things wireless business for $550 million, as it looks to strengthen its automotive, industrial and consumer IoT offers.
The deal includes Broadcom’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Zigbee IoT product lines, as well as its Wiced SDK brand and developer ecosystem.
Cypress provides semiconductors for the automotive and industrial sectors spanning the likes of Bluetooth Low Energy and power management.
The all-cash deal has already been approved by the boards of directors at Cypress and Broadcom. It is expected to be completed during the third quarter of this year, following regulatory approval.
Broadcom’s IoT business had sales worth $189 million during the past year. It employs 430 people, although Cypress did not state what would happen to the staff.
Following the disposal of its IoT business, Broadcom said it would focus on wireless connectivity solutions for non-IoT sectors, including wireless access, smartphones, laptops and notebooks.
Cypress President and CEO T.J. Rodgers, said: “Cypress is a significant player in the IoT today because of our ultra-low-power 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.
“What we bring to the party is over 30,000 customers worldwide who need advanced, ultra-low-power wireless communication but only can absorb it in the form of an easy-to-use programmable embedded system solution.”
Broadcom IoT General Manager Stephen DiFranco added: “We are thrilled to be joining forces with Cypress to address the fast growing IoT market. With our IoT connectivity products, Cypress will be able to provide the connectivity; the MCU, system-on-chip, module and memory technologies; and the mature developer ecosystem that IoT designers require, creating an end-to-end portfolio of embedded solutions and a single IoT design platform.”