TriQuint acquires TriAccess Technologies

HILLSBORO & SANTA ROSA, USA: TriQuint Semiconductor Inc., a leading RF front-end product manufacturer and foundry services provider, announced its acquisition of TriAccess Technologies, a leading provider of Cable TV (CATV) and Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP) ICs for the amplification of high-quality multimedia content, effective today. Previously, TriQuint served as TriAccess’ foundry supplier.

“The TriAccess team is a great fit for TriQuint,” said Brian Balut, Vice President of TriQuint’s Network Products. “TriAccess brings a portfolio of products for the CATV and FTTP markets, with strong design and market understanding, which accelerates TriQuint’s strategy of serving these applications. The combined resources of TriQuint and TriAccess put the company in a leadership position in these growing markets.”

Cable and telecom operators are competing to provide the consumer with triple-play services (Internet, video and voice) and are upgrading their networks to provide the bandwidth needed for high-speed Internet, multiple HDTV streams, and applications such as Video-on-Demand (VOD).

These services require RF components that provide higher performance –- such as higher bandwidth, better linearity, lower noise, reduced power consumption, and higher integration – all at reduced cost. It’s not just a US focus; Europe and the Asia-Pacific region are deploying similar systems.

TriQuint’s CATV products combined with TriAccess’ product lines address these global needs. TriAccess RFIC amplifiers deliver significant performance improvements over competing products.

"We’re eager to join TriQuint and believe that together we can accelerate our success in multiple CATV and fiber optic video markets worldwide. We are anxious to further utilize TriQuint’s process technology and assembly and test resources. TriQuint is well known and highly respected by our customers, providing additional confidence that we are a dependable and stable source of supply,” said Chris Day, TriAccess’ president and CTO.

Day will now manage this TriQuint Santa Rosa Design Center focused on the growing CATV and fiber optic video markets.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. TriAccess’ results are not expected to materially impact TriQuint’s net income.

In conjunction with this transaction, the Board of Directors has approved issuance of 170,300 stock options to ten former TriAccess employees under TriQuint’s 2008 Inducement Award Program. The stock option grants are effective September 3, 2009. A majority of TriQuint’s independent directors approved the grant of the stock options in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Standard 5635(c)(4).

The stock options granted as part of the award program have a 10-year life, vest 25 percent, 12 months from the date of grant, with the remaining 75 percent of the option vesting in equal quarterly installments of 6.25 percent over the next 12 quarters.

They have an exercise price of $7.54, which is the closing price of TriQuint’s common stock on September 3, 2009. The options expire on September 3, 2019.