Indie Semiconductor Acquires EXALOS AG

Automotive technology solutions developer indie Semiconductor, a fabless semiconductor company whose technology supports driver safety and automation, has acquired EXALOS AG. The Swiss photonics company specializes in the design of high-performance optical semiconductors. The deal, which indie said accelerates design-in opportunities with Tier One and automotive OEMs, expands indie’s advanced driver assistance and user experience portfolio with near-infrared and visible superluminescent LED (SLED) products, as well as semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) products. Specifically, indie said that EXALOS’ SLEDs for fiber optic gyroscope and SOAs will complement its existing portfolio of laser and silicon photonics products geared toward automotive technology applications.

Through the acquisition, indie Semiconductor gains a team of 17 engineers, including expertise in bright sources based on EXALOS’ proprietary gallium nitride process. According to Donald McClymont, indie Semiconductor co-founder and CEO, EXALOS’ offerings will enable head-up display, high-brightness visible lighting and inertial measurement unit-based navigational applications. The acquired technology will also help to expand indie’s frequency-modulated continuous-wave lidar portfolio.

Subject to the terms and conditions of the definitive agreement, indie paid approximately $45 million to EXALOS equity holders, composed of 6.6 million indie class A common shares. Indie acquired photonics components designer and manufacturer TeraXion in 2021, and it formally established a business unit, VisionQ, focused on high-quality perception-enabled vision processing solutions one month later. Earlier this year, indie acquired GEO Semiconductor, a provider of video processing technology for automotive cameras.

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About Exalos AG

Published: September 2023

Glossary

semiconductor: A semiconductor is a type of material that has electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. In other words, semiconductors have properties that are intermediate between metals (good conductors of electricity) and insulators (poor conductors of electricity). The conductivity of a semiconductor can be controlled and modified by factors such as temperature, impurities, or an applied electric field. The most common semiconductors are crystalline solids, and they are...
lidar: Lidar, short for light detection and ranging, is a remote sensing technology that uses laser light to measure distances and generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape and characteristics of objects and surfaces. Lidar systems typically consist of a laser scanner, a GPS receiver, and an inertial measurement unit (IMU), all integrated into a single system. Here is how lidar works: Laser emission: A laser emits laser pulses, often in the form of rapid and repetitive laser...
photonics: The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and detection by optical components and instruments, lasers and other light sources, fiber optics, electro-optical instrumentation, related hardware and electronics, and sophisticated systems. The range of applications of photonics extends from energy generation to detection to communications and...

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