Widely Deployed Mesh Technology Strengthens Company’s Leading Position in the Smart Home
AUSTIN, TX and FREMONT, CA – April 19, 2018 – Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) and Sigma Designs, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIGM) today announced the completion of Silicon Labs’ acquisition of Sigma Designs’ Z-Wave business, including a team of approximately 100 employees, for $240 million in an all-cash transaction.
Z-Wave is a leading mesh networking technology for the smart home. More than 2,400 certified, interoperable Z-Wave devices are available from the thriving Z-Wave Alliance of more than 700 manufacturers and service providers worldwide.
Combining Z-Wave’s mesh technology and product interoperability focus with Silicon Labs’ multiprotocol expertise gives smart home developers access to a large, varied network of ecosystems and to a full range of end-node technology options that open the door to millions of potential smart home users. The strategic acquisition complements Silicon Labs’ comprehensive wireless hardware and software portfolio for the smart home, which today includes Wi-Fi®, Zigbee®, Thread, Bluetooth® and proprietary protocols.
“Adding Z-Wave to Silicon Labs’ extensive IoT connectivity portfolio allows us to deliver a unified vision for the wireless technologies underpinning the smart home market,” said Tyson Tuttle, CEO of Silicon Labs. “A secure, interoperable customer experience is at the heart of how smart home products are designed, deployed and managed. Our smart home vision is one where multiple technologies work securely together, where any device using any of our connectivity options easily joins the home network, and where security updates and feature upgrades occur automatically.”
“Together, Silicon Labs and the Z-Wave Alliance and its ecosystems will continue to advance the Z-Wave technology roadmap, delivering innovations that engage millions of smart home product users,” said Raoul Wijgergangs, Vice President and General Manager of Z-Wave. “Z-Wave is a proven, broadly deployed technology that just reached the milestone of 100 million devices in the market. The acquisition will drive collaboration and expand access to a diverse ecosystem network of partners including Amazon, Alarm.com, ADT, Samsung SmartThings, Yale, Vivint, Google Home and Comcast.”
“We are pleased Sigma’s shareholders overwhelmingly approved the sale of our Z-Wave business to Silicon Labs,” said Elias Nader, Interim President and CEO, and CFO of Sigma Designs. “This asset sale is a significant milestone in the process to return capital to our shareholders as soon as feasible.”
Silicon Labs expects the acquisition to be accretive to 2018 non-GAAP earnings. Additional financial details and guidance will be provided in Silicon Labs’ first quarter fiscal 2018 earnings call on April 25, 2018, at 7:30 a.m. Central Time.
