Start-Up Adesto Acquires Atmel Serial Flash Product Families

Adesto Technologies Corporation, Inc., developer of non-volatile memory, has acquired Atmel Corp.‘s Serial Flash product families, including the company’s AT45xxx DataFlash and AT25xxx BIOS Flash product lines and associated patents.

The acquisition also includes IP licensing to cover support of the products and future product development.

Adesto intends to expand the Atmel product line offerings to serve the future requirements of existing customers while maintaining the same quality standards.

With the acquisition, Adesto increases its non-volatile memory technology portfolio. The newly acquired products complement Adesto’s line of Conductive Bridging RAM (CBRAM) devices for embedded applications, which began shipping earlier this year. Second generation CBRAM devices are planned to ship in 2013.

"Adesto’s acquisition of Atmel’s DataFlash and BIOS Flash products marks a major turning point in the company’s plan to be a full line supplier of premium, non-volatile memory solutions," said Narbeh Derhacobian, CEO of Adesto Technologies. "The industry and market is ready for a supplier that can deliver on today’s products and offer a roadmap for the next generation. Our roadmap includes higher density and higher performance devices with lower power and lower cost solutions based on an advanced memory technology that can scale with CMOS. Only Adesto offers this capability and customers will be the winners with this industry transformation."

"Today’s announcement of Adesto’s acquisition of Atmel’s Serial Flash business will enable it to be a major player in the non-volatile memory business," said Alan Niebel, founder and CEO of Web-Feet Research Inc., a semiconductor research company located in Monterey, CA. "This new sales channel will provide a strong network of customers, which, together with the acquired IP and design services, will help accelerate the ramp of their new CBRAM products."

As part of the agreement, Atmel will provide manufacturing and other transition services to Adesto for up to one year. A team of Atmel employees supporting the product lines will also join Adesto.

Adesto’s acquisition of Atmel’s DataFlash and BIOS Flash products includes a 90-day transition period for customers. From today until December 31, 2012, existing customers will continue to order production parts through their existing sales representatives and distributors. Sample parts can be ordered through Atmel or Adesto’s web site.

Adesto Technologies is a venture-backed semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, CA and the developer of Conductive Bridge RAM (CBRAM) memory technology. CBRAM is a low power CMOS compatible non-volatile memory that is customized for a range of discrete and embedded markets.

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