Acquisition expands IoT wireless platform

“The acquisition of Redpine Signals’ ultra-low-power Wi-Fi and Bluetooth products and extensive intellectual property portfolio will expand our leadership in IoT wireless technology,” said Tyson Tuttle, CEO of Silicon Labs. “The addition of these products into our worldwide sales and distribution network will drive further momentum in the smart home, industrial IoT and commercial markets for customers who want to get to market quickly with Wi-Fi enabled connected devices.”

Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) is an important evolution of the Wi-Fi standard to meet the low power, performance, security and interoperability requirements needed in environments with hundreds or thousands of connected IoT devices. The integration of the Redpine Signals technology will accelerate Silicon Labs’ roadmap for Wi-Fi 6 silicon, software and solutions. The acquisition also includes Bluetooth Classic IP (including Extended Data Rate) for audio applications including wearables, hearables, voice assistants and smart speakers.

The Redpine Signals acquisition includes an at-scale design center with approximately 200 employees in Hyderabad, India. The addition of Redpine’s multidisciplinary and high-performing team will help Silicon Labs scale R&D faster and more efficiently in one of the most talent-rich locations in India.

“My team is excited to join Silicon Labs to help build a smarter, more connected world,” said Venkat Mattela, Founder and CEO of Redpine Signals. “Backed by two decades of advanced research in OFDM and MIMO systems, Redpine has created highly-differentiated, low-power multiprotocol SoCs. Going forward, low-power Wi-Fi 6 is a key wireless technology for connectivity in IoT devices.”

Silicon Labs expects the transaction to add approximately $20m in incremental revenue on an annualized basis for FY2020, to enhance its IoT revenue growth rate at comparable gross margin, and to be accretive to earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis in 2H 2021. The transaction will add approximately $15m of non-GAAP operating expenses on an annualised basis.

The boards of directors of both companies and the stockholders of Redpine Signals have approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020 subject to customary closing conditions. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Redpine Signals.