Unicorn acquires 75% equity stake in a leading US microchip designer and manufacturer
Bahrain, 23 December 2007 - Unicorn Investment Bank B.S.C. (c) (Unicorn) announces the investment of US$190 million to acquire a 75% equity stake in Open-Silicon, Inc. (Open-Silicon), a market leader in chip design and outsourced manufacturing services based in Milpitas, California. Unicorn is partnering with Open-Silicon’s senior management team to fulfill the company’s next phase of growth, which includes global expansion.
Established in 2003 by the founders of Intel Microelectronics, a subsidiary of Intel, Open-Silicon designs and manufactures Application Specific Integrated Chips (ASICs) for a broad group of clients in the consumer electronics and telecom sectors. The company’s turnkey semiconductor service offerings allow clients to outsource all services required to deliver high quality semiconductor solutions that they would otherwise need to develop internally at a very high cost.
Commenting on the acquisition, Aamir Khan, Managing Director of Global Private Equity at Unicorn, said: “Unicorn has been following developments at Open-Silicon with interest for several years. The company has managed to build a differentiated and successful business model and is a clear market leader in the fabless space. We believe that semi-conductors will be the cement of future technological infrastructure growth. We look forward to working with Open-Silicon’s highly experienced and respected management team to support the company’s future global growth.”
Open-Silicon currently has a presence in six locations in the US, the United Kingdom, India and Taiwan as well as manufacturing partners in Taiwan, Korea and China and a testing facility in Malaysia. The company’s planned expansion strategy combines growth both within its core US market and internationally where it plans to establish new design centers and material sourcing operations. Furthermore, the company plans to target synergistic acquisition opportunities.
Dr. Naveed Sherwani, Co-Founder, CEO and President of Open-Silicon, commented: “We are delighted to partner with Unicorn to fulfill our business plan and future growth strategies. Open-Silicon has established a solid reputation for providing cost-effective, predictable and reliable custom microchip solutions, and our partnership with Unicorn will help support the next phase of growth. We are excited at the opportunity that Unicorn’s involvement offers to our customers, partners and suppliers.”