onsemi to Acquire Synaptics in About 7 Billion Dollar Edge AI Deal

onsemi has agreed to acquire Synaptics, the chipmaker whose fingerprint, touch, and human-machine interface technology has long appeared in laptops and phones, in an all-stock deal valued at about 7 billion dollars. While onsemi has framed the transaction around edge artificial intelligence rather than biometrics, the deal would bring Synaptics’ sensing and authentication portfolio under a company best known for power and image sensors.

Under the definitive agreement, Synaptics stockholders would receive 1.350 onsemi shares for each Synaptics share, an exchange ratio onsemi said represents roughly a 19 percent premium to the volume-weighted average closing prices of the two stocks over the prior 10 trading days. The transaction, unanimously approved by both boards, would leave Synaptics shareholders owning about 12 percent of the combined company, with one Synaptics director joining onsemi’s board. onsemi expects the deal to close in mid-2027, subject to Synaptics stockholder and regulatory approvals.

onsemi cast the acquisition as a move into what it calls Physical AI, the idea of machines that sense, decide, act, and adapt in the real world across uses such as autonomous driving, robotics, and AR/VR. The company said adding Synaptics’ edge AI compute, human-machine interface, and wireless connectivity would extend its reach beyond power and sensing, and it projected the combination would expand its total addressable market by 30 billion dollars to 243 billion dollars by 2030. Central to that pitch is Synaptics’ Astra platform, which pairs AI processors with a wireless portfolio spanning Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

Synaptics has a long history in biometric and touch sensing. The company has supplied capacitive fingerprint solutions and touch controllers, including the Natural ID fingerprint technology it has paired with Qualcomm for AI PCs and mobile devices, and fingerprint sensors built into hardware such as the power buttons of Lenovo ThinkPad laptops.

“As artificial intelligence moves beyond the cloud and into the physical world, including automotive and industrial, the next phase of innovation will depend on systems that can sense, decide, act and adapt in real time,” said Hassane El-Khoury, president and CEO of onsemi. Rahul Patel, president and CEO of Synaptics, said the all-stock structure would let Synaptics shareholders share in the combined company’s growth. onsemi said the deal should be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share within 18 months of closing, with about 200 million dollars in expected annual synergies.

Sources: onsemi

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By Cass Kennedy