Cmosis has acquired all outstanding shares of the Swiss CMOS sensor manufacturer, Awaiba, with the transaction closed on 4 August 2014. Awaiba develops and markets innovative line-scan CMOS imagers for industrial web inspection, sub-mm CMOS camera modules for endoscopy, and on-board automotive cameras.
Luc De Mey, Cmosis chairman and CEO, stated: ‘The acquisition of Awaiba is a natural fit for Cmosis. It strengthens our presence in existing markets and expands our activities in adjacent segments with complementary image sensor products. It also strengthens our relationship with our existing customer base.’
He continued: ‘Awaiba is a profitable and well-established brand with an attractive and strongly growing client base. We are very excited to welcome their experienced team having an impressive track record of innovation and deep understanding of customer needs. This permits us to even better serve our customers as an independent and pure-play supplier of CMOS image sensors.'
This is the latest in what is becoming a chain of acquisitions of CMOS companies. On the same day in which Cmosis closed the Awaiba transaction, e2v announced that it had purchased a Spanish CMOS sensor manufacturer, Anafocus. Truesense was also purchased earlier this year by ON Semiconductors. Cmosis itself was purchased by private equity firm, TA Associates, late last year which De Mey said enabled the horizontal expansion and growth acceleration required for the Awaiba purchase.
Yole Développement estimates the CMOS market to rise to $13 billion by 2018 and IC Insights predicts that CMOS technology will continue to gain market share over charge-coupled devices technology.
Further information:
e2v buys Anafocus for 34m Euros
CMOS market to reach $13bn by 2018
ON Semiconductor buys Truesense Imaging for $92m
