Masimo acquires assets of Spire Semiconductor

IRVINE, USA: Masimo, the inventor of Masimo Rainbow Pulse CO-Oximetry, Masimo Rainbow Acoustic Monitoring, and Masimo SET Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, today announced it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Spire Semiconductor, LLC, maker of advanced light emitting diode (LED) and other advanced component-level technologies.

Masimo Semiconductor Inc., a newly-formed, wholly-owned subsidiary of Masimo Corporation, will operate the business going forward. The acquisition gives Masimo an advanced ability to develop custom components, accelerate development cycles, and optimize future product costs.

Spire Corp. CEO and Chairman of the board, Roger Little, stated: "Spire Semiconductor has developed a superior intellectual property portfolio and advanced optoelectronic technology that is well-suited for Masimo's groundbreaking noninvasive patient monitoring technologies. For the past several years, Masimo has been one of Spire Semiconductor's largest customers. Masimo can now leverage Spire Semiconductor's strengths for an even greater impact on Masimo's industry leading innovations."

Joe Kiani, Masimo CEO and chairman of the Board stated: "We believe that further advancements in noninvasive blood constituent monitoring technologies are unlikely using off-the-shelf optoelectronic components. Masimo Semiconductor will make the future possible and usher in a new era of technologic advancements for Masimo and ultimately our customers and patients."

Masimo Semiconductor, based in Hudson, N.H., specializes in wafer epitaxy, foundry services, and device fabrication for biomedical, telecommunications, consumer products and other markets. Masimo Semiconductor will continue to lead the industry in development of custom optoelectronic components, concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) cells, photocathodes, PIN diodes, Avalanche diodes, laser power converters, thermo photovoltaics and laser diodes.