ON Semiconductor has inked a definitive agreement to acquire Cypress Semiconductor’s CMOS Image Sensor Business Unit (ISBU) for approximately $31.4 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2011, subject to customary closing conditions. The ISBU will become an integrated part of ON Semiconductor’s Digital, Military/Aerospace and Image Sensor (DMI) division.
Pursuant to the agreement, ON Semiconductor is expected to acquire approximately 100 patents and patent applications related exclusively to the business, as well as receive appropriate intellectual-property licenses from Cypress. As part of the transaction, approximately 80 ISBU employees will join the ON Semiconductor organization.
“The acquisition of the Image Sensor Business Unit from Cypress will solidify our position as a leading supplier of CMOS Image Sensor products,” says Bob Klosterboer, senior vice president and general manager of ON Semiconductor’s Digital and Mixed Signal Group (DMSG). “In addition, the acquisition will strengthen the company’s talent base and add an experienced design and applications engineering team for the image-sensor market segment. The 2D high-speed CMOS image sensors from the ISBU will significantly strengthen and complement ON Semiconductor’s image-sensor products for the industrial, medical, computing, and military/aerospace markets.”
“The sale of our image sensor business will enable Cypress to continue to focus on programmable products, including our flagship PSoC programmable system-on-chip solution and our TrueTouch touch-sensing controllers,” says T.J. Rodgers, Cypress president and CEO.
Cypress’ portfolio of custom and standard CMOS image sensors are used in multi-megapixel digital photography and cinematography, machine vision, linear and 2D bar-code imaging, medical x-ray imaging, biometrics, and aerospace applications. The company’s products include the VITA, LUPA, STAR, and IBIS families.
ON Semiconductor’s current products target one-dimensional image sensing, with particular focus on contact image sensing and ambient/proximity sensors. Once the acquisition is closed, the company feels it will have a complete image-sensing product offering with 1D and 2D sensors, which will tap into multiple end-markets.