Semtech acquires Sierra Wireless
- Acquirer
- Semtech
- Target
- Sierra Wireless
- Deal Value
- $1.2B
- Status
- Completed
- Announced
- August 2, 2022
What happened
Semiconductor maker Semtech agreed to acquire Sierra Wireless, the Canadian IoT modules and managed connectivity pioneer, for $31 per share in cash — an enterprise value of roughly $1.2 billion. The deal paired Semtech's LoRa low-power network technology with Sierra's cellular modules and connectivity services business, and closed in January 2023.
Why it matters
A chip company paid over a billion dollars largely to own recurring connectivity revenue — Sierra's managed IoT SIM base — not just hardware. The premise was that silicon plus connectivity equals a full-stack IoT platform; the painful integration and later write-downs that followed became the industry's cautionary tale about paying top-of-cycle prices for that thesis.
Source: Semtech
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