Chipmaker and AI firm Syntiant Corp. has closed a $150 million acquisition of a maker of ultra-tiny microphones while nearby computer networking products maker Lantronix has completed a $6.5 million purchase of an Internet of Things business to expand its product line.
Both acquired companies bring strong revenue streams.
Syntiant Corp. completed its purchase of Knowles Corp.’s consumer micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) microphones division in a cash and stock deal.
The ultra-tiny Knowles (NYSE: KN) microphones detect sound and sense vibrations in the air and turn them into an electrical signal.
The microphones are essential for voice and audio applications in smartphones, smart speakers and wearables among other market segments, including autos and household appliances.
They will be integrated with Syntiant’s chips, which enable smart devices to recognize voices and sounds, such as in the Ring Alarm Glass Break Sensor.
Syntiant CEO Kurt Busch said in a Dec. 30 statement that “the addition of the Knowles CMM business gives Syntiant a leadership position in the rapidly growing, multibillion-dollar MEMS microphone market.”
Knowles’ CMM division generated revenue of approximately $256 million in 2023, well before the acquisition by Syntiant.
Strong Growth, 50M
Syntiant, founded in 2017, now counts a total of almost 1,700 employees. Some 1,600 of them come from the Knowles acquisition. There are 42 Syntiant employees in Orange County, a company spokesman said.
More than 50 million Syntiant Neural Decision Processors and deep learning models have been deployed worldwide, delivering highly accurate, artificial intelligence in edge devices with ultra-low- power consumption.
On Jan. 3, Syntiant and ViewSEC Co., a Taiwanese surveillance tech company, said they are collaborating to build and deploy an AI-powered vision platform for dashboard cameras.
Lantronix Buys IoT Business of NetComm
In a separate development, Lantronix said Dec. 26 it had completed the acquisition of the IoT business of NetComm, a subsidiary of DZS of Plano, Texas, for cash and the assumption of certain liabilities.
“The strategic acquisition of NetComm’s IoT portfolio strengthens our compute and connect offerings by providing our customers with leading-edge IoT solutions,” Saleel Awsare, president and CEO of Lantronix (Nasdaq: LTRX), said in November when the deal was first announced.
