Sony Acquires Altair Semiconductor for $212M

Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) is announcing that it has reached an agreement withAltair Semiconductor ("Altair") and its major shareholders to acquire the company. Thepurchase price is 212 million U.S. dollars (approximately 25 billion yen), and Sony expects tocomplete the acquisition in early February, 2016.Altair, an Israel-based company, owns modem chip technology and related software for LTE(Long Term Evolution), a 4G cellular standard for mobile devices. Altair develops and sellsproducts focused on LTE technology, and its modem chips stand out for their low powerconsumption, high performance and competitive cost.LTE is already widely used in data communication for mobile phones, and is also expected toplay a pivotal role in the interconnection of the Internet of Things ("IoT"). Going forward, moreand more "things" are expected to be equipped with cellular chipsets, realizing a connectedenvironment in which "things" can reliably and securely access network services that leveragethe power of cloud computing.With the acquisition of Altair, Sony aims to not only expand Altair's existing business, but alsoto move forward with research on and development of new sensing technologies. By combiningSony's sensing technologies – such as GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) and imagesensors – with Altair's high-performance, low power consumption and cost-competitive modemchip technology, and by further evolving both, Sony will strive to develop a new breed ofcellular-connected, sensing component devices.With the markets for wearable and IoT devices expected to continue to expand, Sony aims todeliver component devices that feature both sensing and communication capabilities, as wellas new LTE solutions that leverage the strengths of these component devices.No material impact is anticipated on Sony's consolidated financial results for the fiscal yearending March 31, 2016 as a result of this acquisition.