LED and RF chip vendor Cree said it paid about $430 million to acquire Infineon Technologies' RF Power business in a move to bolster the offerings of Cree's Wolfspeed subsidiary in wireless, including faster 4G and 5G networks.
In 2016, Cree struck a deal to sell Wolfspeed to Infineon for $850 million, but the companies called it off last year after the Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) raised concerns about the deal’s implications for U.S. national security.
Cree (Durham, N.C.) said the acquisition of the Infineon RF Power team and capabilities would complement Wolfspeed with additional technology, design, packaging, manufacturing and customer support. The Infineon RF Power business is a leader in offering transistors and monolithic microwave ICs (MMICs) for wireless infrastructure radio frequency power amplifiers based on both LDMOS and gallium nitride on silicon carbide (GaN-on-SiC) technologies, according to Cree.
"This is a key element of Cree’s growth strategy and positions Wolfspeed to enable faster 4G networks and the revolutionary transition to 5G," said Cree CEO Gregg Lowe, in a press statement.
Reinhard Ploss, CEO of Infineon, said sellign the business would enable Infineon to focus on strategic growth areas while retaining a strong technology portfolio for the wireless market.
The deal includes about 260 employees in California, Arizona, Finland, Sweden, China and South Korea. The deal also includes the main Infineon Power facility in Morgan Hill, Calif., which includes packaging and test operations for LDMOS and GaN-on-SiC.
Infineon said it would support the transaction with a long-term supply agreement for LDMOS wafers and related components out of its fab in Regensburg, Germany, and that it would also supply assembly and test services out of its facility in Melaka, Malaysia.
“We are looking forward to combining our strengths with Cree,” said Gerhard Wolf, vice president and general manager of RF power products at Infineon.
— Dylan McGrath is the editor-in-chief of EE Times.