ROHM Semiconductor Acquires Powervation

KYOTO, Japan, and CORK, Ireland, July 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- ROHM Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6963),  a global leader in analog power IC solutions, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Powervation Ltd., a privately held digital power IC company that develops Digital Power Management system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for approximately $70M, in an all-cash transaction.

The strategic combination of Powervation's Intelligent Digital Power™ platform with ROHM's leading analog power technology and global market access will enable the company to address a broad range of fast growing market opportunities, as customers increasingly adopt digital power solutions to power next generation  high density systems and ICs such as Processors, Memory, FPGAs and ASICs.   

Since its founding in Ireland in 2006, as a University of Limerick spin-out, Powervation has established itself as a leading innovator in digital power controllers serving high performance Computing, Cloud and Communications infrastructure markets. The Company's proprietary DSP control platform with patented xTune^TM auto-tuning and ITM^TM intelligent transient management technologies, has been adopted by industry leading customers who need advanced power management, precision telemetry / control and high efficiency solutions to power their complex multi-rail, multi-phase systems. Powervation delivers on these needs with further breakthroughs on design flexibility, fast time-to-market and lower total cost of ownership.

ROHM, a $3B global leader in analog and power semiconductors, supplies a diversified global customer base in the consumer, automotive and industrial markets. By acquiring Powervation, ROHM will gain leading-edge digital power technologies to strengthen its product offerings in the rapidly-growing cloud, data-center, and communications infrastructure markets. This acquisition will also enable ROHM to develop advanced digital power solutions for a broader range of markets and applications with Powervation's flexible controller platform.

According to market research reports, digital power continues to progressively displace traditional analog technology in the $11B global power management IC market driven by its performance and energy efficiency advantages.

"ROHM and Powervation share a common vision for the role of digital power technology in transforming the market with next-generation high performance power solutions," stated Mike Smith, SVP & GM of ROHM Semiconductor USA.

"The combination of our two companies will enable ROHM to develop industry-leading, integrated digital power solutions to serve a broad range of customers, markets, and applications spanning the entire spectrum from Computing and Communications to Consumer and Industrial," stated Jun Iida, head of LSI development and member of the ROHM board of directors.

Powervation will become a fully owned subsidiary of ROHM, with principal design center in Cork, Ireland and system application centers in San Jose, CA and Asia which fuse expertise in power systems, digital control, silicon and embedded software. ROHM plans to accelerate product development through investment and synergies with ROHM analog / discrete power technologies and to increase market adoption further by leveraging ROHM's global customer base and channels.

"The Powervation team is excited to join forces with ROHM, a top 25 global semiconductor company," said Mike McAuliffe, CEO of Powervation. "It's simply a great fit - we have built an innovative Digital Power IC company to date but the combination with ROHM now presents a compelling opportunity for broad market leadership in Digital Power Management solutions."

About ROHM:
ROHM Co., Ltd. is a $3B global company with over 20,000 employees. ROHM is an industry leader in system LSI, discrete components, and module products, utilizing the latest in semiconductor technology. ROHM's proprietary production system, which includes some of the most advanced automation technologies, is a major factor in keeping it at the forefront of the electronic component manufacturing industry.  As a vertically integrated company, ROHM is able to quickly and efficiently develop highly customized products in a cost-effective manner for the Consumer, Automotive, and Industrial sectors, among others.

LAPIS Semiconductor (former OKI Semiconductor), SiCrystal AG and Kionix are also companies of the ROHM Group.

About Powervation:
Powervation delivers intelligent digital power™ IC solutions for cloud computing, communications and high-performance power systems. The company's programmable digital control platform delivers significant benefits in performance, efficiency and design flexibility. Powervation is a private fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Cork, Ireland, with facilities in San Jose CA, Taipei, Shenzhen, and Beijing. It has been backed by investors SEP, Intel Capital, VentureTech (TSMC), Braemar Energy Ventures and Semtech Corporation.

For more information, editors should contact:

Jayme Pontious
MarComm Manager, ROHM Semiconductor
[email protected]

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SOURCE ROHM Semiconductor

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