Acquisition of Non-Volatile-Memory IP Supplier Grows Footprint and Increases Product Portfolio for Microchip’s SST Flash-IP Solutions Business.

Chandler, AZ and Austin, TX — Microchip Technology Inc. [NASDAQ: MCHP], a leading provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions, through its Silicon Storage Technology (SST) subsidiary, and Novocell Semiconductor, Inc. (Novocell) has announced that Microchip and SST have signed a definitive agreement to acquire Novocell. The acquisition was approved by the Boards of Directors of each company and is being announced today at the 2013 Design Automation Conference (DAC) in Austin, Texas.  The terms of the deal are confidential. The transaction is expected to close in early June 2013 and is expected to be immediately accretive on a non-GAAP basis.

“We are pleased to announce the acquisition of Novocell and are expecting great things as we integrate the technology into our ever-expanding portfolio of IP solutions,” says Mark Reiten, vice president of Technology Licensing for SST, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microchip. “This acquisition provides our customers with valuable and differentiated technology and helps us to enable their designs with an even more comprehensive set of solutions, expanding our position as a leading memory IP supplier.”

“We are extremely happy to become part of SST and the Microchip family and are excited by the strategic possibilities available to us, moving forward, from both a business as well as a technology perspective,” states Walter Novosel, Novocell’s president and chief technical officer. “Novocell has continued to grow its portfolio of non-volatile-memory IP solutions since its inception, and we fully expect the technology to see an increased adoption from joining a leader like SST in the memory IP market.  With SST’s offerings in the high-density arena, we can concentrate on not only expanding our customer base, but also growing the footprint that SST has built with customers worldwide in low-density OTP and MTP memory.”

Under the acquisition agreement, Novocell will become a wholly owned subsidiary of SST, a Microchip company.  SST and Novocell are committed to a seamless customer transition.  SST plans to invest in continuing, designing, developing and extending Novocell’s product portfolio and roadmap.

For more information visit http://www.microchip.com/get/QN0T.