Synaptics is acquiring the DSP Group in an effort to round out its biometric portfolio. The DSP group is best known as a maker of wireless chipsets, with a particular focus on low-power chipsets that can enable voice applications in IoT devices.
Those voice solutions will be paired with Synaptics’ existing Katana smart vision technology to provide device manufacturers with comprehensive voice and computer vision capabilities. Synaptics believes that the combination could generate $30 million in synergies in the first 12 months after the completion of the deal, and produce similar returns on an annual, ongoing basis for Synaptics and DSP as a singular entity moving forward.
The two companies did not disclose the total purchase price, but did reveal that Synaptics would be buying DSP Group at a rate of $22.00 per share. The deal will be carried out with cash on hand and incremental debt financing, and is expected to close before the end of 2021. The acquisition has the unanimous approval of the Synaptics and DSP Group Boards of Directors, but is still awaiting final approval from DSP’s current shareholders.
Synaptics is hoping to capture a bigger portion of a booming edge IoT market. The company noted that there will be 2.5 billion Tiny Machine Learning units in circulation by 2030, and that DSP’s DECT Ultra Low Energy (ULE) tech will be especially useful in smart home applications.
“We continue to invest in technologies that tilt our product mix toward IoT applications,” said Synaptics President and CEO Michael Hurlston. “DSP Group’s expertise in SmartVoice and ULE wireless solutions, coupled with Synaptics’ leadership in far-field speech recognition and Wi-Fi/BT combos enables us to deliver increasingly differentiated solutions to our customer base, while positioning us to lead the transition to AI enabled devices at the edge of the network.”
The news comes roughly a year after Synpatics completed its acquisition of Broadcom’s wireless IoT portfolio in a deal worth an estimated $250 million. More recently, the company revealed that its Selene fingerprint sensors would be appearing in Lenovo’s new ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 notebook devices.
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