Atheros to Acquire Taiwan's Attansic for GigE Silicon

Atheros agreed to acquire Attansic Technology Company, a privately held Taiwan-based fabless semiconductor company specializing in Fast and Gigabit Ethernet integrated circuit solutions for PC, access point (AP) and router applications, for approximately $46.5 million in cash and $25 million in Atheros common stock. Atheros said the acquisition enables it to drive towards complete, cost-efficient system solutions for Consumer and Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) wireless APs and routers.



Specifically, Gigabit Ethernet technology, when combined with Atheros' XSPAN 802.11n WLAN chipsets and recently announced AR7100 family of wireless network processors, enables optimal 802.11n AP/router performance for high quality media networking. The 802.11n WLAN standard will support up to 600 Mbps physical data rates and requires Gigabit Ethernet to achieve optimal connectivity to content and services -- from a broadband Internet connection or a local mass storage device -- to deliver a compelling whole-home media networking experience.



Attansic is a majority-owned subsidiary of ASUSTek Computer, a leading supplier of PC motherboards and manufacturer of modems and gateways through its Askey subsidiary. Attansic is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan and has a large presence in Shanghai.



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