消费电子用微机电系统(MEMS)陀螺仪(gyroscope)供应商应美盛(InvenSense, Inc.)日前宣布并购法国超低功率定位、活动追踪暨情境感知软件商Movea，公司股价在正常盘大涨了近5%、创下数年新高。另外，InvenSense也并购了室内外定位软件商Trusted Positioning Inc. (TPI)。
InvenSense总裁兼首席执行官Behrooz Abdi 7日在美国股市收盘后发布的新闻稿中指出，在收购了Movea与TPI之后，InvenSense将转化为智能传感器系统单芯片(SoC)的领导供应商。他说，InvenSense的低功耗、高效能动作与声音传感器，在紧密整合TPI的高阶定位追踪软件、Movea的资料融合演算法之后，“AlwaysOn (随时在线)”的低功耗整体解决方案也终将获得实现，将被用于移动终端、可穿戴设备和物联网等领域。
IHS技术总监Jeremie Bouchard表示，所有MEMS传感器制造商都在寻找类似的并购机会，与传感器软件供应商融合，以便更好地服务于新兴市场。
InvenSense将支付8100万美元，其中现金部分为7500万美元。以便收购Movea与TPI所有在外流通股票。
barrons.com报导，Oppenheimer & Co.分析师Andrew Uerkwitz曾于6月24日发表研究报告指出，根据他和InvenSense首席财务官Alan Krock的会面结果、以及他自身进行的调查，该公司很可能已成为iPhone 6六轴陀螺仪(MPU)的供应商，这项解决方案也会用来支持光学防手震(OIS)系统。另外，InvenSense也获苹果采用、将为其可穿戴设备供应零件，这有望让该公司的年度每股盈余增加0.15-0.30美元。
Uerkwitz并表示，InvenSense也赢得亚马逊“Fire”3D智能手机的设计应用、这会让今年底前的营运状况获得不错的成长动能。
两周前，音频处理芯片厂商Audience(ADNC)并购了Movea竞争对手QUIK公司的传感器平台，并与联发科合作提供智能手机语音解决方案。
据Juniper Research预计，到2017年智能可穿戴设备的年销售量有望从2013年的1500万部激增至7000万部左右，未来2-3年可穿戴设备的市场规模也将从2013年的30亿-50亿美元迅速攀升至300亿-500亿美元。
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
参考英文原文：Invensense MEMS Merges With Movea Motion,by R. Colin Johnson
相关阅读：
• 广达获苹果智能手表iWatch量产订单，部分供应商曝光
• 可穿戴时代值得关注的公司：英特尔、三星、InvenSense
• [拆拆看]三大MEMS传感器厂商最新九轴IMU详解shBesmc
{pagination}
Invensense MEMS Merges With Movea Motion
Invensense agrees to acquire Movea and Trusted Positioning for $81 million
R. Colin Johnson
PORTLAND, Ore. — One of the fastest growing micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) and system-on-chip (SoC) companys, Invensense Inc. in San Jose, Calif., just got a big boost by acquiring two companies with complementary motion-software expertise that will fortify their motion processing solutions. Movea SA in Grenoble, France, has a portfolio of over 500 patents and established business relationships with major consumer electronics makers worldwide. Trusted Positioning Inc. (TPI) in Calgary, Canada, is smaller, but has a highly specialized solution for determining the orientation of a device for navigation, wearable, and other high-volume applications. Both companies were acquired by Invensense for just over $80 million and will remain located where they are now.
"Both indoor and outdoor navigation is going to be a big market, and with the addition of Movea and Trusted Positioning's inertial sensor algorithms to our own, we hope to offer the broadest selection of smart MEMS sensor solutions on the market," Ali Foughi, vice president of marketing and business evelopment at InvenSense told EE Times. "For one thing, you're not going to have trouble going into tunnels or parking lots anymore where there is no GPS reception."
Movea has a broad and deep portfolio of motion sensing algorithms which it has been licensing to smart TV makers for pointable remote controls, to wearable makers for applications from wrist bands to tennis rackets as well as to microcontroller makers of smart sensor hubs. All of these markets are ones that Invensense wants to get further into, and acquisitions is one of the fastest way to expand in growing markets.
Trusted Positioning Inc. also writes software for inertial motion sensing, but in their case they specialize in accurately determining the orientation and location of inertial sensors, for instance is your phone in your back pocket, vest pocket, lying on your desk or what. Their target customers include makers of smartphones, tablets, wearables, in-vehicle navigation devices, personnel tracking devices, and machine guidance and control systems.
"Both these company's will help Invensense provide solutions based on intelligent sensors -- wrapping motion algorithms around the sensors, which is exactly the businesses Invensense is in -- make the sensors smarter, with auto-calibration and on-chip data fusion." Foughi told EE Times. "The message here is we are expanding our embedded software algorithm technology portfolio and planning to do a lot more. Both Movea and TPI are also experts in low-power navigation solutions."
Invensense intends to use Movea and TPI technology to enhance its "AlwaysOn" low-power solutions for mobile, wearable, and the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. According to Jeremie Bouchard, director at IHS Technology in Douglas County, Colo., all the MEMS inertial sensor makers are seeking similar acquisitions with sensor fusion software companies in order to better serve these emerging markets, including Hillcrest Laboratories, Inc. in Rockville, Md., and Sensor Platforms Inc. Bouchard predicted this trend when analyzing why Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. had just acquired motion software company Xsens Technologies B.V. in Enschede, Netherlands earlier this year. His MEMS April Market Brief predicted "there exist a handful of similar software algorithm suppliers including Movea, Hillcrest, and SensorPlatforms. This is a critical competence and IHS has anticipated that some of these companies would soon be acquired." His reasoning was that most MEMS sensor makers are hawking similar products -- accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, and altimeters -- so they need superior software to differentiate themselves. Smart software is also desperately needed to cut the power consumption of always-on, wearable, and IoT applications, according to IHS.
InvenSense will pay approximately $81 million to acquire the outstanding shares of capital stock and other equity rights of Movea and Trusted Positioning Inc. Payment will be in cash except for $6 million of InvenSense common stock plus a portion of unvested employee stock options exercisable for shares of InvenSense's common stock.
责编：Quentin
扫码分享到好友
