M/A-COM Technology Solutions Inc of Lowell, MA, USA (which makes semiconductors, components and subassemblies for analog, RF, microwave and millimeter-wave applications) has acquired Nitronex LLC of Durham, NC, USA, which designs and makes gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si)-based RF power devices. Just last November, MACOM agreed to acquire Mindspeed Technologies Inc of Newport Beach, CA, USA (which designs network infrastructure semiconductors for communications applications) for $272m.
MACOM has purchased Nitronex from Silicon Valley-based GaAs Labs LLC (a private investment fund targeting the communications semiconductor market) for about $26m in cash (subject to potential post-closing adjustments). The transaction is financed through a draw of additional indebtedness from MACOM’s revolving credit facility. GaAs Labs is an affiliate of the majority stockholder of MACOM’s parent company M/A-COM Technology Solutions Holdings Inc, after GaAs Labs acquired M/A-COM Technology Solutions from UK-based aerospace technology developer Cobham plc in 2009. GaAs Labs acquired Nitronex in mid-2012.
The acquisition of Nitronex provides MACOM with fundamental GaN-on-Si epitaxial and pendeoepitaxial semiconductor process technology and materials for use in RF applications, broadening MACOM’s growing GaN technology portfolio.
Nitronex previously leveraged this technology to offer what was claimed to be the industry’s first GaN-on-Si RF discrete devices and MMICs, providing a combination of GaN-based performance, ease of integration, and a cost structure that can support high-volume mainstream markets. MACOM says that the high device linearity, high output power and efficiency characteristics of GaN devices make GaN-on-Si technology ideal for demanding high-bandwidth communications such as CATV, broadband radio, wireless infrastructure, radar and ISM (industrial, scientific & medical) applications.
“GaN technology has been long viewed as the driver of the next generation of RF and microwave applications,” says MACOM’s president & CEO John Croteau. “With today’s announcement, MACOM now provides what we believe to be the industry’s largest portfolio of GaN devices. MACOM’s broadened portfolio of GaN-on-silicon and GaN on silicon carbide technologies offers customers the flexibility to utilize the best solution to solve their RF and microwave design challenges,” he adds.
“Today’s announcement accelerates the deployment of GaN as a dislocating technology and furthers Nitronex’s vision of bringing GaN-on-silicon to the fullest breadth of commercial and aerospace and defense applications possible,” says Nitronex’s president & CEO Greg Baker. “MACOM's more than 30 years of experience in high-performance RF power devices can help propel GaN-on-silicon to the next level of commercialization, bringing it to a truly mainstream volume production technology,” he believes.
