The negotiations date back to March, when ISSI accepted the Chinese approach. However, Cypress made an unsolicited offer, which saw the Uphill group increases its offer. Now, Cypress appears to have won the day, although the deal will not conclude until June 14, which leaves room for Uphill to up its offer.
Why is Cypress pursuing ISSI? Scale is one reason; the acquisition would add some $330m to Cypress' embedded memories revenue. It would also put Cypress in a much stronger position in the automotive world, where ISSI is a leading supplier of DRAM. It would also sit nicely alongside Cypress' latest acquistion Spansion.
ISSI derives a large part of its revenue from speciality DRAM; devices which are produced to meet the aggressive temperatures and quality standards demanded by automotive and some industrial customers.
As I mentioned in a recent blog, acquisitions such as these are creating 'one stop shops'. Should the deal complete, Cypress will be able to go into automotive companies with a portfolio that spans MCUs, memories and touch technologies. All that Cypress has to ensure is that portfolio meets designers' needs.
