The remains of picoChip are being passed on

The result of this evaluation has now been made public: Mindspeed has been acquired by MACOM for $272million. MACOM's president and ceo John Croteau said the deal was all about Mindspeed's 'high growth, high margin' high performance analogue business as well as its 'cash generating' VoIP business. Mindspeed shareholders will probably be happy as MACOM appears to have paid a premium. But buried at the end of the announcement were a few lines about the fate of Mindspeed's wireless business unit. This, it said, is being discussed with a 'strategic acquirer'. In essence, Mindspeed's wireless business unit is picoChip, the femtocell pioneer which was acquired early in 2012 for around $50m. The current gossip suggests that whoever the strategic acquirer may be – the usual suspects, including Intel, Samsung and Marvell, are being mentioned – they may not be paying very much. When Mindspeed bought picoChip – in a deal regarded at the time as something of a 'fire sale' – it was more interested in the technology than the business. Whoever acquires Mindspeed's wireless unit may well be taking the same approach – valuing the expertise more than the business itself.