Microchip Technology Buys Novocell Semiconductor
HERMITAGE, Pa. – The acquisition of Novocell Semiconductor Inc. will provide the company more resources for continued product development, its president and chief technology officer maintains.
Housed at the eCenter@LindenPointe technology incubator, Novocell was purchased by Microchip Technology Inc. through its Silicon Storage Technology subsidiary. The deal was announced earlier this month at the 2013 Design Automation Conference in Austin, Texas.
“It is a very good fit,” remarked Walter Novosel, Novocell’s president and chief technology officer. Founded in 2002, Novocell has been doing well, he said. “This just gives us the resources to take it to the next level,” he said.
“SST is a memory company also. They do Flash memory,” he added. “We fill a hole in their market.”
Novocell supplies non-volatile memory intellectual property solutions for fabless semiconductor companies, integrated device manufacturers and foundries, according to a news release announcing the deal. Headquartered in Chandler, Ariz., Microchip Technology is a provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions. Its SST subsidiary is headquartered in San Jose, Calif.
“This acquisition provides our customers with valuable and differentiated technology and helps us to enable their designs with an even more comprehensive set of solutions, expanding our position as a leading memory IP supplier.” said Mark Reiten, vice president of technology licensing for SST, in a news release announcing the purchase.
“Obviously we are very excited about this,” remarked Yvonne English, the eCenter’s executive director. “This will give Novocell more resources to be able to further their company as well as to hire more in the near future.”
English said eCenter staff helped gather necessary documents for Novocell and was aware of the potential deal for several months. Novocell has “plenty of room to grow” at the eCenter and representatives of its new parent company were “very excited to see the facility,” she continued.
“We’re going to continue operating here. We’re just going to be a branch of SST,” Novosel said.
English affirmed that Novocell plans to stay at the eCenter until they outgrow their current space. The company occupies a couple thousand square feet of the 16,500-square-foot building. “They would have to hire 10 or 12 more employees before we even talk about that,” she said.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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