Cypress Acquires IC Works

Electronic News, Jan 25, 1999

by jerry ascierto San Jose, Calif.-Cypress Semiconductor Corp. last week moved to reduce its dependence on the memory market with the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire IC Works Inc., a maker of frequency timing generation chips based here. The purchase of IC Works will allow Cypress to expand its presence in products outside of core business in SRAMs, the company said.

"The acquisition of ICW is the next move in a series of steps designed to reduce Cypress's dependence on the highly cyclical memory business," said T.J. Rodgers, Cypress' president and chief executive officer. While there will be some overlap between the two companies' product lines, IC Works' chips are targeted at the PC business, while Cypress concentrates on programmable clocks and precision clocks, Rodgers said. This will make the combination of the two companies' product lines "highly complimentary," Rodgers explained. IC Works had average quarterly revenues of approximately $17.6 million and net income of approximately $2.7 million during the last three quarters of its current fiscal year. The agreement provides for Cypress to issue 13.7 million shares in exchange for all outstanding stock and options of ICW. The deal was worth about $130.2 million as of Thursday's close of the stock market. N