Silicon Lab Buying Sigma Designs, Evaluating Mobile Unit and Eyeing IoT Growth
Silicon Labs' buy of Sigma Designs and its Z-Wave business for $282 million is contingent on Sigma selling its smart TV unit, said executives from the acquirer on a Friday investor call. If certain closing conditions aren’t met, Silicon Labs…
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will buy Sigma’s Z-Wave business only for $240 million, subject to Sigma shareholders’ approval, it said. On any divestiture of Sigma's set-top box business, Silicon Labs CEO Tyson Tuttle said the company is “quite comfortable” with the stability and profitability of the broadcast business over time. “While that is something that was discussed, that’s not something that’s in the cards,” he said. Sigma is in discussions to divest its media connectivity business comprising G.hn solutions, HomePlug AV and HomePNA, which Silicon Labs Chief Financial Officer John Hollister called a “covenant and imperative,” not a condition. Silicon Labs is evaluating Sigma Designs’ mobile IoT initiative, said Hollister. The CEO said IoT, the connected world and home automation devices with voice control have "a large tailwind.” The Z-Wave protocol is “sub-gigahertz,” while ZigBee, Thread and Bluetooth are 2.4 GHz, he noted.