TI acquires RF IC design specialist

Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) has announced the acquisition of Integrated Circuit Designs Inc. (ICD), a privately held company that specializes in the design of RF ICs. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition is the latest move by TI to strengthen its low-power RF portfolio and follows last June's acquisition of Chipcon, a provider of short-range, low-power RF transceivers for Zigbee-compliant and proprietary-based wireless systems.

"With the rapidly growing demand for industrial, commercial and residential systems to incorporate more short-range wireless technology, it is important for TI to provide a broad portfolio of innovative RF devices. The addition of ICD's design expertise will complement our existing low-power wireless business and enhance our ability to offer customers complete RF solutions," said David Jones, precision analog business manager at TI.

ICD was founded in 1995 to provide consulting services in analog and mixed-signal IC design. In addition to its core analog IC design expertise and IP portfolio, ICD's capabilities include physical layout, test engineering and project management. ICD is based in Ellicott City, Maryland in the United States and has 16 employees.