Xicor acquires analog design team for $15 million

Xicor acquires analog design team for $15 million
By Stephan Ohr, EE Times
April 17, 2002 (6:21 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20020417S0072

SEATTLE — To bolster its analog signal conditioning capabilities, Xicor Corp. has acquired the assets of Analog Integration Partners LLC, an engineering design team. The acquisition, valued at roughly $15 million, was made for 1 million shares of Xicor stock plus $5 million in cash. Both outfits are based in Milpitas, Calif.

The experience of the AIP design team gives Xicor new strength in the design of amplifiers, phased-locked loops and data converters, a Xicor spokesman said.

Xicor began using digital potentiometers in conjunction with its non-volatile memories several years ago to adjust and control the current drive and temperature on trunkline optical lasers. Since then, the company's business in analog components has expanded while its memory business has been relatively flat, said Xicor president and chief executive officer Lou DiNardo. AIP's experience with 0.25- and 0.18-micron CMOS will allow Xicor to implement greater preci sion and speed into the control loop, he said.

Additional target market's for the company's analog offerings include graphics and video (it offers a three-channel RGB analog front-end for LCD monitors), and high-speed communications (a Gigabit Ethernet PHY is among the analog intellectual property obtained with the AIP purchase).