STRATEGIC PARTNERS
February 25, 2002
Silicon Valley -- Atmel Corp. last week moved to acquire Motorola Inc.'s smart-card IC business unit for an undisclosed sum, according to Electronic Business News.
The deal would place Atmel among the top three suppliers of chips to the smart-card industry -- behind Siemens AG and STMicroelectronics -- and would position the company as a major provider of system-level integration.
Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector, which is in the midst of a difficult reorganization, said the smart-card IC business no longer fits with its long-term market objectives. The deal isn't expected to affect Motorola's card-level smart-card operation, which is aimed at financial, transit, telecommunications and other end applications.
While terms of the deal were undisclosed, B. Jeffrey Katz, vice president of marketing for San Jose-based Atmel, said the former Smart Information Transfer (SIT) IC unit should generate about $30 million in revenue for Atmel this year.
