CEVA Acquires Hillcrest Labs Intelligent Sensor Technologies Business from InterDigital

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and ROCKVILLE, Md., July 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEVA), the leading licensor of signal processing platforms and artificial intelligence processors for smarter, connected devices, today announced the acquisition of the Hillcrest Laboratories, Inc. (Hillcrest Labs) business from InterDigital, Inc. Hillcrest Labs is a leading global supplier of software and components for sensor processing in consumer and IoT devices.

MEMS-based inertial and environmental sensors are used in an increasing number of devices, including smartphones, laptops, tablets, wireless earbuds, TV & remote controls, AR & VR headsets, drones, robots and many other consumer and industrial devices. With more than 15 years' experience in sensor processing and more than 100 million devices shipped incorporating their technology to date, Hillcrest Labs is regarded as a leading innovator in the fusion of data from multiple sensors to enable intelligent systems. The resulting algorithms and software are used in sensors, such as Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), and end user products to enable contextual awareness and an enriched user experience for a variety of devices, such as the precise navigation of autonomous robots and drones.

Hillcrest Labs' innovative and proven MotionEngine™ software supports a broad range of merchant sensor chips and is licensed to OEMs and semiconductor companies that can run the software on CEVA DSPs or a variety of RISC CPUs, including Arm® Cortex®-M and A series and RISC-V based cores. The MotionEngine software expands and complements CEVA's smart sensing technology, which includes computer vision and AI processing for cameras and sound processing for microphones. As a result, CEVA DSP licensees now benefit from CEVA's capabilities as a complete, one-stop-shop for processing all classes and types of sensors. Furthermore, the Hillcrest Labs software technology broadens CEVA's software licensing engagements directly with OEMs and ODMs to enable the addition of a plethora of IMU-based software applications to their merchant SoCs, which adopt a royalty payment scheme based on devices rather than chips.

Gideon Wertheizer, CEO of CEVA, commented: "We are truly excited to welcome the Hillcrest Labs team to CEVA. Their unrivalled expertise in sensor processing and innovative sensor fusion technology, as well as proven track record of high-volume shipments align perfectly with our diversification strategy in the smart sensing domain. This acquisition presents opportunities for multiple royalty growth vectors, including from OEMs, and enables us to be a pioneer in the emerging fields of AR & VR and the different classes of robots. Together with our broad portfolio of connectivity, sound, vision and AI technologies, Hillcrest labs will enable us to continue to redefine the limits of our technology solutions for the data-driven world."

Chad Lucien, President of Hillcrest Labs, commented: "We are proud and energized to join CEVA, one of the most innovative and dynamic technology companies in the industry. As everyday devices increasingly include more and more sensors to improve the user experience through contextual awareness, our sensor processing and sensor fusion technologies perfectly complement CEVA's existing smart sensing platforms. We look forward to the new challenges and possibilities that await us in our new home."

Further details of this transaction and related financial information will be discussed during CEVA's second quarter 2019 earnings conference call, scheduled for August 8, 2019.

For more information on Hillcrest Labs motion sensing software, visit https://www.ceva-dsp.com/app/motion-sensing/.

Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that if they materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of CEVA to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions.  Forward-looking statements include those relating to the potential benefits of the acquisition of Hillcrest Labs: (i) the Hillcrest Labs software technology broadens CEVA's software licensing engagements directly with OEMs and ODMs to enable the addition of a plethora of IMU-based software applications to their merchant SoCs, which adopt a royalty payment scheme based on devices rather than chips, (ii) the acquisition presents opportunities for multiple royalty growth vectors, including from OEMs, and enables CEVA to be a pioneer in the emerging fields of AR & VR and different classes of robots, and (iii) the acquisition enables CEVA to continue to redefine the limits of its technology solutions for the data-driven world. The risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause differing CEVA results  include: CEVA's ability to successfully integrate Hillcrest Labs' operations; CEVA's ability to implement its plans, forecasts and other expectations with respect to the Hillcrest Labs' business after the completion of the transaction and realize expected synergies; disruption from the transaction making it more difficult for CEVA to maintain business and operational relationships; the negative effects of the announcement or the consummation of the proposed transaction on the market price of CEVA's common stock or on CEVA's operating results; unknown liabilities related to the transaction; the risk of litigation or regulatory actions related to the transaction; the ability of the CEVA DSP cores and other technologies to continue to be strong growth drivers for the company; CEVA's continued success in penetrating new markets and maintaining its market position in existing markets; CEVA's ability to diversify the company's royalty streams, the ability of products incorporating CEVA's technologies to achieve market acceptance; the effect of intense industry competition and consolidation, CEVA's ability to timely and successfully develop and introduce new technologies; and other risks relating to CEVA's business, including, but not limited to, those that are described from time to time in its SEC filings.  CEVA assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak as of their respective dates.

About CEVA, Inc.
CEVA is the leading licensor of signal processing, sensor fusion and artificial intelligence processors for a smarter, connected world. We partner with semiconductor companies and OEMs worldwide to create power-efficient, intelligent and connected devices for a range of end markets, including mobile, consumer, automotive, robotics, industrial and IoT. Our ultra-low-power IPs for vision, audio, communications and connectivity include comprehensive DSP-based platforms for LTE/LTE-A/5G baseband processing in handsets, infrastructure and cellular IoT (NB-IoT and Cat-M) enabled devices, advanced imaging and computer vision for any camera-enabled device, audio/voice/speech and ultra-low power always-on/sensing applications for multiple IoT markets. For sensor fusion, our Hillcrest Labs sensor processing technologies provide a broad range of sensor fusion software and IMU solutions for AR/VR, robotics, remote controls, and IoT. For artificial intelligence, we offer a family of AI processors capable of handling the complete gamut of neural network workloads, on-device. For connectivity, we offer the industry's most widely adopted IPs for Bluetooth (low energy and dual mode) and Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) up to 4x4). Visit us at www.ceva-dsp.com and follow us on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

SOURCE CEVA, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.ceva-dsp.com