Dialog Semiconductor Expands IoT Leadership by Acquiring Creative Chips for $80M in Cash

While it might seem like every company is turning into an IoT company, there are a few leaders out there, which have greater influence over the industry than others.

One such company is Dialog Semiconductor. Fresh off its acquisition of Silicon Motion Technology’s product line in May 2019 ($45m cash), Dialog just announced it will also be acquiring mixed signal IC developer Creative Chips GmbH for $80m (again, in cash). The folks at Creative Chips will receive an additional $23m if certain revenue targets are hit in 2020 and 2021.

Dialog targeted Creative Chips due to its unique position in the industry. The company is a fabless semiconductor manufacturer that supplies a wide variety of industrial Ethernet and mixed-signal products to manufacturers of industrial and building automation systems.

More specifically, Creative Chips’ technology is specially designed to connect multiple industrial IoT (IIoT) sensors to industrial networks. The company is also developing a range of complementary standard Io-Link IC products to better address connectivity for Industry 4.0 applications.

So, in short, Dialog’s acquisition of Creative Chips provides the company with an instant foot in the door, so to speak, within the IIoT space. The company expects to gain top-tier industrial customers with existing relationships built over the course of Creative Chips’ two-decade history; and establish a key strategic building block for Dialog to realize its larger ambitions in the industrial IoT.

“The acquisition of Creative Chips is instrumental for Dialog, giving it a strong foothold in the industrial IoT market, while still highly complementary to Dialog’s current mixed-signal business,” explained Dialog’s CEO, Jalal Bagherli. “The addition of Creative Chips and its team of highly experienced and talented engineers will help to further diversify Dialog’s product revenues, customer base and end markets by extending our reach in the industrial sector in addition to strengthening our automotive offering.”

Story via EETimes