Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation, a full subsidiary of Murata Manufacturing, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Arctic Sand Technologies, Inc. The acquisition price is estimated to be $61.8 million, about ¥7 billion. Just over a year ago, in February, 2016, Arctic Sand announced the completion of a $19 million Series B Financing round, led by Murata with co-investors GE Ventures, Northwater Capital and Arsenal Venture Partners.
Arctic Sand Technologies is a manufacturer engaged in the design and sale of low-power semiconductors. Most-recently, Arctic Sand added an ultra-high efficiency LED driver targeting next gen – ultra high definition – ultrabook platforms. Its technologies deliver industry-leading power conversion efficiency. Combining them with Murata’s modular technologies will make it possible to provide solutions with high integration and excellent conversion efficiency in a wide range of low-power fields. Demand for these technologies is expected to grow even further as electrical and electronic components become smaller and thinner.
Through this acquisition, Arctic Sand’s low-power semiconductors will be added to Murata’s existing product lineup in order to enhance and expand its power module business in not just the telecommunications market, but also the data communication and industrial electronic markets.
“Bringing together Arctic Sand’s low-power semiconductor technologies and Murata’s technologies will allow us to lead the way in providing products that satisfy the needs of customers in growing markets where there is demand for small footprints, low profiles, and power savings,†commented Norio Nakajima, Board Members, Executive Vice President, Communication & Sensor Business Unit/Energy Business Unit, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
“Arctic Sand is the epitome of an innovative startup,†added Jim Cable, CEO of Peregrine Semiconductor. “With this acquisition, Peregrine and Murata gain Arctic Sand’s disruptive technology, strong IP portfolio and world-class team. With a vision to revolutionize the power electronics industry, we’re building the power integrated circuit ‘dream team’. We will now leverage Peregrine’s semiconductor expertise to accelerate the adoption of Arctic Sand’s technology and their ability to ship in volume, bringing us one step closer to dramatically smaller, lighter, faster and more efficient power solutions.â€
Arctic Sand technology is based on exclusively-licensed MIT patents co-authored by Arctic Sand’s founder and Chief Scientist David Giuliano. The technology is called TIPS™ – Transformative Integrated Power Solutions a patented architecture that uniquely enables ultra-low profile solutions with industry-leading power conversion efficiency performance - addressing major pain points in all major markets and applications.
TIPS™ enables higher switching frequencies to be used with ground breaking conversion efficiencies which are significantly higher than leading players in the markets today – all in a footprint and profile which is substantially smaller. Arctic Sand’s solutions enables total solution footprints to be typically 2x smaller and with 2-3x lower profile, enabling unmatched power conversion packaging density and ultra-thin platforms. The architecture also benefits from substantially lower ripple and EMI, and demonstrates significant dramatic improvements in transient performance.
The architecture is flexible, and enables Arctic Sand to address buck, buck-boost and boost topologies for many different applications. The company’s product roadmaps addresses boost products for powering LED display backlighting and buck products for microprocessor cores for mobile applications such as smartphones, tablets and ultrabooks. TIPS™ will soon be applied to broader applications such as servers, storage and networking, and for integration to processors and ASICs.
