Indie Semiconductor acquires EXALOS AG

Headquartered in Schlieren in the canton of Zurich, the photonics firm EXALOS is set to become part of Indie Semiconductor, the California-based specialists for automotive semiconductors and software platforms. To this end, Indie is paying EXALOS shareholders a sum of 45 million US dollars in the form of Class A common shares in Indie, further details of which can be found in a press release. However, in the event that certain revenue-based performance targets are exceeded over the next 24 months, shareholders could potentially earn an additional 20 million US dollars in cash or extra shares.

As the press release states, EXALOS AG, which was founded in 2003 and specializes in the area of high-performance optical semiconductors, has “developed and launched several highly innovative advanced products for the world’s most demanding application areas”. In particular, the field-tested SLEDs for fiber optic gyroscope and semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) developed by EXALOS, which are backed by a total of 59 global patents, are said to complement the laser and silicon photonics products offered by Indie Semiconductor. Through this, “the industry’s highest-performance portfolio” for automotive technology applications is being created.

In particular, Indie will now be in a position to use the core technologies developed by EXALOS in order to expand its FMCW lidar portfolio for automated driving, as Donald McClymont, co-founder and CEO of Indie Semiconductor, explains in the press release: “We are gaining a well-established team of 17 world class engineers, including the industry’s leading expertise in bright light sources based on a proprietary gallium nitride process. At a higher level, our acquisition of EXALOS represents another step in our quest to build a broadline autotech powerhouse”. ce/mm