Trident would remain fabless with a significant presence in Asia. Under the terms of the transaction, NXP will receive newly issued shares of Trident common stock equal to 60% of the total shares outstanding post-closing, including approximately 6.7 million shares that NXP will purchase at a price of $4.50 per share, resulting in cash proceeds to Trident of $30 million.

"As the fragmented consumer IC market continues to consolidate, the ability to leverage IP across multiple segments is becoming increasingly important due to the R&D investments necessary to deliver leading-edge innovation," said Sylvia Summers, President and CEO of Trident. "Through this transaction, Trident will become one of the leading global suppliers with the product portfolio, IP and operational infrastructure required to effectively serve the large, high-growth digital home entertainment market."

In order to drive cost-efficient innovation that is competitive with the industry’s most aggressive consumer IC suppliers, Trident expects to retain a core set of technology centers of excellence in Europe and North America, while growing and leveraging the substantial engineering presence that each of NXP’s Home business unit and Trident already has in Asia.

Following the close of the transaction, Trident intends to continue supporting the existing customers and design wins of each company. In addition, Trident plans to develop a converged product roadmap, leveraging the substantial IP of both companies and cost structure of Trident to provide the competitive products required for the next generation of customer designs.

Reaffirming its long-term commitment to the digital home technology market, under the terms of the transaction, the primary shares being issued to NXP would be subject to a lock-up for two years.

Upon closing, Sylvia Summers will remain the CEO of Trident and Christos Lagomichos, EVP of NXP’s Home business unit, will become President. Pete Mangan will remain senior vice president and chief financial officer of Trident. In addition, after closing, NXP and Trident intend to cooperate in the development of complementary end-to-end solutions in other selected high-growth technology areas, including NXP’s car entertainment and silicon tuner product lines.

Trident will be fabless and will have the ability to access state-of-the-art technology and manufacturing capacity from NXP’s manufacturing facilities, as well as the partner foundries and subcontractors of both companies. As a result of the terms and conditions agreed between the parties, NXP will account for its investment in Trident under the equity method.

The Boards of Trident and NXP have unanimously approved the agreement and the transactions contemplated by the agreement. The transaction is subject to the approval of the stockholders of Trident, consultations with employee representatives in certain jurisdictions and other customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in the first calendar quarter of 2010.