BANGALORE, India, April 1, 2013 – The $23-billion JFE Holding of Japan has sold its chip design & development arm, Kawasaki Microelectronics (K-micro) to Tokyo-based MegaChips Corporation for $100 million.
K-micro will be officially merged into MegaChips Corporation with effect from April 1. K-micro currently has 125 people of which 60 are product engineers in Bangalore, while MegaChips has over 700 people in Tokyo. The deal has significance for India as MegaChips is looking at a rapid scale up in the country. Akira Takata, president and CEO of MegaChips Corporation, is scheduled to visit Bangalore on April 23 to draw up a detailed road map and expansion strategy for India.
Mahindhar Mungara, director India operations of K-micro, told TOI, "Post merger we are expecting significant expansion activities in India. We already do a large chunk of complex R&D here. A lot more high-end work is expected to come here."
K-micro designs and develops chips, ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) products for high-end cameras, LCD panels, and other consumer electronics products. The fabless semiconductor firm's expertise ranges from design to quality assurance including wafer fabrication, assembly and testing. MegaChip develops sensors and game controllers for game consoles like Nintendo, digital cameras, office appliances, LCD panels and home network systems. %It also develops chips that support image and audio processing technology for DSLR cameras.
The merger will make a powerful single entity that is focused on both analog (K-micro) and digital (MegaChips) spaces. "This merger will not only enable us to build a business portfolio with stable and continuous revenues and profits, but will also help us in worldwide expansion in areas of product application, system planning and solution creation,'' said Takata, in an official communique.
Source: "The Times of India"