Cypress to acquire Broadcom's wireless IoT business

Under the terms of the deal, Cypress will acquire Broadcom's Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Zigbee IoT product lines and intellectual property, along with its WICED brand and developer ecosystem. Broadcom's IoT business unit, which employs approximately 430 people worldwide, generated USD 189 million in revenue during the last twelve months. The transaction has already been approved by the board of directors of both companies and is expected to close in the third calendar quarter of 2016. "Cypress is a significant player in the IoT today because of our ultra-low-power PSoC programmable system-on-chip technology, but we've only been able to pair it with generic radios so far. Now we have the highly regarded Broadcom IoT business – state-of-the-art Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Zigbee RF technologies – that will transform us into a force in IoT and provide us with new market opportunities as well," Cypress President and CEO T.J. Rodgers said. "We are thrilled to be joining forces with Cypress to address the fast growing IoT market," Broadcom IoT General Manager Stephen DiFranco said. "With our IoT connectivity products, Cypress will be able to provide the connectivity; the MCU, system-on-chip, module and memory technologies; and the mature developer ecosystem that IoT designers require, creating an end-to-end portfolio of embedded solutions and a single IoT design platform." Under the terms of the deal, Broadcom will continue to focus on its wireless connectivity solutions for the access and mobility segments that are not IoT related, including serving set-top box, wireless access, smartphone, laptop and notebook customers. Cypress will capitalize on the growing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity (17% per year) markets in consumer, industrial and automotive IoT segments.