Knobbe Martens Client Tessera Acquires Ziptronix, Inc. for $39 Million
Deal Augments Tessera's 3D-IC Capabilities in Rapidly Growing Market Ziptronix Technologies Currently Deployed in $8 Billion Image Sensor Market
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA) ("Tessera" or the "Company") today announced the acquisition of Ziptronix, Inc. for $39 million in cash. The acquisition expands on Tessera's existing advanced packaging capabilities by adding a low-temperature wafer bonding technology platform that will accelerate delivery of 2.5D and 3D-IC solutions to semiconductor industry customers.
Ziptronix's patented ZiBond® direct bonding and DBI® hybrid bonding technologies deliver scalable, low total cost-of-ownership manufacturing solutions for 3D stacking. Ziptronix's intellectual property has been licensed to Sony Corporation for volume production of CMOS image sensors - an estimated $8.3 billion market according to Gartner. Ziptronix's technology is also relevant to next-generation stacked memory, 2.5D FPGAs, RF Front-End and MEMS devices, among other semiconductor applications. Inclusive of CMOS image sensors, Tessera expects the annual market size to which this technology applies to exceed $15 billion by 2019.
"With this acquisition we're gaining best-in-class technology, along with exceptional people, know-how in the 3D-IC market and a significant patent portfolio," stated Tom Lacey, CEO of Tessera. "With the escalating cost for each node of semiconductor lithography, it remains very clear to us that our R&D spend on semiconductor packaging will only become more important and valuable to our customers. Ziptronix has commercially licensed the ZiBond and DBI technologies and they stack up very well alongside our extensive portfolio of 2.5D and 3D intellectual property. I'm confident that aligning our respective capabilities with our development expertise will help create a multi-hundred million dollar revenue opportunity for Tessera over the next decade as the industry continues to shift toward 3D-IC architectures."
"ZiBond and DBI bonding are enabling technologies that provide significant cost and performance benefits," said Craig Mitchell, President of Invensas, a Tessera subsidiary. "There is a great opportunity to further develop these platforms with our technology partners, and we're very excited about their market potential."
Founded in 2000 as a venture-backed spinoff of RTI International, privately held Ziptronix is a pioneer in the development of low-temperature direct bonding technology for 3D integration. Ziptronix is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Dan Donabedian, President and CEO of Ziptronix added, "We've taken our technology from concept to commercialization in the backside illuminated image sensor and RF markets. Joining the Tessera family of companies combines our efforts with a proven leader in technology development and licensing in the semiconductor industry. This is a great alignment of companies that can address rapidly expanding 2.5D and 3D-IC markets."
The addition of the Ziptronix team will not change Tessera's target operating expense structure. Tessera is making no adjustments to third quarter 2015 revenue or earnings per share guidance.
Knobbe attorneys Adeel Akhtar and Paul Stellman, out of our San Francisco office, aided Tessera in-house staff in conducting IP due diligence in advance of the acquisition.
About Tessera Technologies, Inc.
Tessera Technologies, Inc., including its Invensas and FotoNation subsidiaries, generates revenue from licensing our technologies and intellectual property to customers and others who implement it for use in areas such as mobile computing and communications, memory and data storage, and 3D-IC technologies, among others. Our technologies include semiconductor packaging and interconnect solutions, and products and solutions for mobile and computational imaging, including our LifeFocusTM, FaceToolsTM, FacePowerTM, FotoSavvyTM, DigitalApertureTM, face beautification, red-eye removal, High Dynamic Range, autofocus, panorama, and image stabilization intellectual property.
About Knobbe Martens
With over 275 lawyers and scientists nationwide, Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP dedicates its practice to all aspects of intellectual property law, including post-grant review proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Consistently ranked among the top intellectual property firms worldwide, Knobbe Martens serves a diverse group of clients from multinational corporations to emerging businesses of all stages. Headquartered in Orange County, California, Knobbe Martens also has offices in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Seattle and Washington, D.C. More information about the firm can be found at www.knobbe.com.
