[April 17, 2006] Murata Manufacturing to Acquire SyChip Tweet By Satyen K. Bordoloi TMCnet Contributing Writer Japanese Electronic component maker Murata Mfg. Co. has reportedly purchased Texas-based, privately-held venture company SyChip Inc. The deal is said to have a value of about $140 million for the Kyoto based company, and will be sealed later this month through its U.S. unit Murata Electronics North America Inc., headquartered in Georgia. Murata hopes to give its wireless communications equipment business a shot in the arm through the acquisition of SyChip, which is a leader in Radio Frequency Chip Scale Modules (CSM). The deal is expected to enhance Murata’s product offering by providing the company with communications module solutions for mobile device customers. The strength of SyChip, founded in 2000 in the lines of Bell Labs, is in the development of Chip Scale Modules (CSM) with application-specific integrated circuits that build wireless telecommunications access capabilities into devices like cash registers, personal digital assistants and Internet protocol (IP) phones. However it is the use of those chips in applications like media players as well as smart phones that is expected to be a big expansion area, along with the VoIP market. SyChip carries out its software support from its design centers in China and North America. It is also reported to be in the pursuit of smaller and thinner modules by developing Integrated Passive Device (IPD) technology - which uses silicon as the module substrate. SyChip had estimated sales of 1.9 billion yen in 2005, with a workforce of about 70. Murata, which recorded a consolidated turnover of 424 billion yen in 2004-2005 and has over 5,000 individual employees, expects the SyChip acquisition to give it entry into new market segments in the wireless area. The acquisition will make SypChip a wholly owned subsidiary of Murata Electronics North America. It will be covered in the consolidated accounting of the Japanese parent company. Murata, meanwhile, expects that the impact of the purchase on its consolidated earning will remain modest for a while. ----- Satyen K. Bordoloi is a contributing writer for TMCnet. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]