Woburn, Mass.-based chipmaker Skyworks Solutions Inc., which has operations in Irvine, said Tuesday it bought a smaller rival, Irvine-based startup Axiom Microdevices Inc.
Terms of the deal weren? disclosed.
Axiom Microdevices, which has some 40 workers here, makes chips that help cell phones get better reception.
It designs power amplifier chips that help grow a phone? signal so that cell towers can ?ear?it.
What? different about Axiom? chips is that the company has found a way to make them cheaper using complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology, the most common form of chip making known as CMOS.
Making the chips via CMOS smoothes out potential production delays, which helps cell phone makers get their products to market faster.
Axiom? customers include Britain? Vodafone Group PLC and Ningbo Bird Ltd., a Chinese cell phone maker, among others.
The privately held company has raised roughly $50 million in venture funding and doesn? disclose sales.
Investors in Axiom included U.S. Venture Partners, Tallwood Venture Capital, Anthem Venture Partners and VentureTech Alliance.
Axiom, which started in 2002, saw some growing pains in its early days.
In 2005 the company faced a patent lawsuit from Austin, Texas-based Silicon Laboratories Inc., which sought to block the company from producing its chips.
Axiom prevailed after a U.S. District Court in Texas lifted an injunction.
Skyworks Solutions was created in 2002, when Newport Beach chipmaker Conexant Systems Inc. combined it with Woburn-based Alpha Industries.
A spokesperson for Skyworks said some of Axiom’s workers are set to move to its offices here, which have nearly 200 workers. At it’s peak, the company had some 500 workers here.
