Synaptics to Acquire Broadcom’s Wireless IoT Division for $250 Million

Synaptics to acquire Broadcom’s wireless iot division. This is the branch that makes WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS products for IoT devices. Synaptics will pay $250 million, which the company will “pay in an all-cash transaction.”

Synaptics expects the acquisition to add about $65 million to its current annual revenue, the company said in a press release. The acquisition is also expected to deliver ‘significant revenue growth potential’. The acquisition should enable Synaptics to release a wider range of products, the company said.

With the acquisition, Synaptics not only gains the industry in question, but also an engineering support team of 60 employees, Anandtech writes. The company will also acquire the rights to all products currently in development at Broadcom’s division. The acquisition is being financed with Synaptics’ existing cash position and is therefore not subject to financing conditions. The acquisition process should be completed in the first quarter of 2021.

The iot division was part of Broadcom’s wireless industry, which makes Wi-Fi chips for smartphones, among other things. Broadcom initially planned to sell its wireless division, writes The Wall Street Journal. The company later declined to do so when it reached a “major, multi-year deal with its largest smartphone customer,” CRN writes. A few months earlier, an SEC listing was released revealing that Broadcom had struck a new deal with Apple to supply “wireless components,” CNBC reported.

Broadcom also sold a division for wireless Iot devices in 2016, writes Anandtech. The company then sold the business to Cypress Semiconductors for $550 million.

Image via Anandtech