Parade to acquire Cypress's TrueTouch mobile business

Post-acquisition, Parade will provide TrueTouch solutions to mobile customers and expand into other consumer-oriented segments. Markets to be served by Parade will include smartphones, tablets, notebooks/PCs, monitors, wearable technology, GPS systems, digital cameras and certain industrial segments. Leveraging its knowledge and customer relationships, Cypress will continue to provide TrueTouch solutions to its automotive and home appliance customers and CapSense button-replacement solutions to its mobile customers.

Parade believes that this acquisition will substantially expand its addressable market. Combining Parade’s position in Embedded DisplayPort timing controllers with Cypress’s technology in capacitive touch-sensing, Parade expects to provide platform-level solutions with a complete portfolio of products for its display customers. The acquisition will also improve the operational efficiency of the industry supply chain.

Cypress’s TrueTouch capacitive touchscreen solutions deliver robust performance and a natural user experience in a broad range of challenging environments with outstanding waterproofing, noise immunity, passive stylus and glove-touch modes, as well as proximity sensing and face detection. The company’s IP portfolio is backed by hundreds of capacitive touch-sensing patents and includes true, single-layer sensor solutions with Cypress’s Single-Layer Independent Multi-touch sensor for dramatically reduced touchscreen costs.

“We believe Cypress’s IP portfolio in touch-sensing will provide us with immediate growth opportunities, increasing our scale and diversifying our revenue and customer base,” said Jack Zhao, CEO, Parade. “More importantly, the combination of two technology leaders will enable Parade’s roadmap for display and touch integration solutions in mobile display.”

“Mobile capacitive touchscreen solutions are increasingly being integrated directly into the display system,” commented Hassane El-Khoury, Executive Vice President, Programmable Systems Division, Cypress. “Parade’s advanced display solutions are truly the best in class. Its relationships with Tier 1 PC and consumer electronics manufacturers make it an excellent choice to continue to provide our customers with advanced technology and product roadmaps that the industry requires.”

Parade intends to fund the transaction with $100m cash on hand. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close during Q3 2015.