Putting together a complete list of acquisitions for an entire year is quite some work. Lucky for us, the guys over at PartnerUp did all the hard work, composing on their blog a "Complete List of 2009 Web, Internet and Tech Acquisitions." So all we had to do is scan through their hard work in search of semiconductor company acquisitions. Given that 2009 was a rather lackluster year for mergers and acquisitions in general, it is not surprising that finding semiconductor startups on the list was slim pickings. Nevertheless, a few did manage to make the list.
- CopperGate: Developed System-on-a-Chip (SoC) solutions for entertainment and control applications inside the home. The company was acquired by Sigma Designs, Inc. in October of last year for $160 million.
- Dune Networks: Developed networking and switching silicon devices targeted at intelligent, scalable, and reliable switching platforms for network infrastructure applications. The company was acquired by Broadcom in December of last year for $178 million.
- Intellon: Developed chips for powerline communications (PLC), broadband-over-powerline (BPL), and Ethernet-over-Coax (EoC) solutions for home networking. The company was acquired by Atheros in September of last year for $244 million.
- Raza Microelectronics: Developed Super System-on-a-Chip (SuperSoC) MIPS-compatible processors targeted at the infrastructure, enterprise, and consumer media markets. The company was acquired by NetLogic Microsystems for $183 million.
- TZero Technologies: Developed wideband chips for high quality high-definition (HD) real-time video. The company was acquired by NDS Surgical Imaging for an undisclosed amount.
There is a good chance that there might have been a few more acquisitions here and there. After all, is it possible that this was a year without any EDA startup acquisitions? Well, if you know of any send us a note and we will gladly add them to the list.