84.5 million euros! Saiwei Electronics plans to acquire the German Elmos automotive chip production line

On the evening of December 14, Saiwei Semiconductor announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Sweden's Silex Microsystems AB (hereinafter referred to as "Silex") signed a "Share Acquisition Agreement" with Germany's Elmos Semiconductor SE (hereinafter referred to as "Elmos"). Sweden's Silex intends to acquire Elmos' automotive chip manufacturing production line-related assets for 84.5 million euros (including 7 million euros of work-in-progress).

According to the Equity Acquisition Agreement, Elmos has established a new special purpose vehicle (SPV) in Germany to take over the assets of the target production line, which will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sweden's Silex after the transaction is completed. The SPV was established on November 25, 2021. As the transaction proceeds, Elmos will transfer all assets related to the automotive chip manufacturing production line and corresponding employees, existing service contracts, supply agreements, employment contracts, and other rights and relationships related to the production line to the SPV.

According to reports, Elmos was founded in 1984, went public in 1999, and currently has 1,141 employees. It is headquartered in Germany and is an automotive-grade semiconductor company. Elmos of Germany develops, manufactures and sells various types of CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) chips and sensor chips.

Elmos' product range includes automotive high-speed network communication interface chips, power supply voltage regulator chips (which can provide efficient conversion of different voltages), optical infrared sensor chips (which can realize contactless gesture sensing with large screens or mobile phones), motor drive system microcontroller chips (which can realize precise control of automotive motors and real-time detection of operating physical parameters), MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) chips, etc. Elmos also produces the world's leading application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and semiconductor chips in mixed-signal technology, mainly used in the automotive industry.

Dr. Arne Schneider, CEO of Elmos, said that Elmos' business is still in the growth stage, but in the long run, the demand for 350nm automotive electronic chips from downstream customers may decline, and it will be replaced by newer products. The acquisition by Silex of Sweden will provide a perfect sustainable solution for the employees, customers and development of the Dortmund region of the automotive chip manufacturing line.

Edvard Kälvesten, CEO, director and founder of Sweden's Silex, said that the acquisition of Germany's Elmos automotive chip manufacturing production line will become an important milestone in Sweden's Silex development strategy. 

In addition, Saiwei Electronics pointed out that through the acquisition of Elmos' automotive chip manufacturing production line-related assets, the company will further expand the business scope of its core business of sensor and chip process manufacturing to the automotive electronics field, and rapidly increase its overseas production capacity that is compatible with MEMS and CMOS chip integrated process manufacturing, which will help the company actively grasp the global semiconductor specialty process manufacturing industry. In particular, the development opportunities of the rapid growth of global automotive chip and MEMS chip manufacturing demand will promote the further development of the company's business, improve the company's comprehensive competitiveness on a global scale, and ultimately implement the company's long-term development strategy after transformation, that is, focusing on the main business and striving to become a well-known semiconductor technology enterprise group based on local and international development.