Silicon Labs to sell its automotive business for US$2.75 billion to Skyworks

Silicon Labs said on Thursday that it will sell its Infrastructure & Automotive business to Skyworks Solutions for US$2.75 billion in an all-cash deal.

The transaction includes power, timing and broadcast products, intellectual property and 350 associated employees.

Silicon Labs expects to receive around US$2.3 billion in net proceeds after taxes and transaction fees from the deal.

It will return US$2.0 billion of that to shareholders through a combination of special dividends and/or share repurchases after the transaction closes, the company said.

The deal is expected to wrap up by the third quarter this year. As both companies are based in the US, they won’t require approval from authorities in China, Silicon Labs said.

Austin, Texas-based Silicon Labs will focus on the IoT market going forward, it said. The firm supplies wireless chips for smart home. Its customers include Google.

"The massive growth in connected devices makes this the right time for us to exclusively focus on the large, diverse, growing IoT opportunity," said Silicon Labs CFO John Hollister. "Our updated operating model for the IoT business indicates a long-term revenue growth rate of 20%, outpacing the forecasted industry CAGR of mid-teens for our combined target IoT end markets of Industrial & Commercial and Home & Life." 

Skyworks Solutions said it expected to expand in electric and hybrid cars as well as industrial and 5G business sectors.