Maxim to acquire Teridian for its SoC solutions for smart meter market

SUNNYVALE, USA: Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (Nasdaq:MXIM) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Teridian Semiconductor Corp. for approximately $315 million in cash.

Acquisition highlights:
* The acquisition firmly positions Maxim as the technology leader for providing energy measurement and communications electronics to the attractive smart meter market.
* Teridian has 50 percent share in the fast growing system-on-chip (SoC) energy measurement market. Its SoCs, which integrate a highly-accurate analog front end, a microcontroller, and a display driver, are quickly replacing discrete solutions.
* Maxim will build on Teridian's market position to accelerate sales of Maxim's existing power management, real-time clock, and interface products, as well as security IP, which are all required in smart meters.
* Additionally, Maxim will leverage Teridian's market position to accelerate the adoption of Maxim's technology-leading G3 Powerline Communications (PLC) products for use in Smart Meters and high-reliability Smart Grid deployments worldwide.
* The acquisition is immediately accretive excluding acquisition-related charges and amortization.

Teridian is a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Irvine, California. It is a major supplier to 3 of the top 4 major meter manufacturers in the US and to over 50 meter manufacturers globally.

Teridian's deep system knowledge and strong customer relationships enables Maxim to address the different specifications required of Smart Meters in all regions throughout the world.

Teridian's key technical differentiator is its innovative architecture which delivers the most accurate power measurement over the widest dynamic range. To optimize time-to-market and reduce cost, meter manufacturers will continue to demand increasing levels of integration and complete system-level solutions. Maxim's demonstrated ability to combine multiple mixed signal functions will be extremely synergistic in producing highly-integrated SoCs and complete system solutions that meet these requirements.

Smart meter units using both SoC and multi-chip solutions are estimated to grow 10% annually through 2014. Since SoC based implementations are estimated to go from approximately one third of smart meters to a substantial majority over that same period, the demand for SoCs will increase at a much faster pace.

Maxim projects its serviceable available market (SAM) for the energy measurement portion of Smart Meters to reach $380 million by 2014. In addition, the Company estimates an additional $375 million of SAM in fiscal year 2014 for other Maxim support and communications products used in smart meters and related smart grid applications.

Maxim CEO, Tunc Doluca remarked: "Global smart grid investment is essential to use power plants and transmission networks more efficiently. Energy measurement and grid communications are key components of the smart grid and necessitate the deployment of new electronic meters to replace older meters worldwide. The addition of the Teridian team and product line to Maxim will significantly accelerate our penetration in this fast-developing market and will help us maintain our balanced business model."

Teridian CEO, Jerry Fitch commented: "Teridian is working with manufacturers to enable the global trend toward improving energy efficiency and conservation via ubiquitous energy measurement. As part of Maxim, we will be able to provide more comprehensive solutions to these customers."