GigOptix Acquires of ChipX

GigOptix, Inc., a high speed analog semiconductor manufacturer specializing in electronic engines for the optically connected digital world, announced that the company has signed a definitive agreement, and completed the acquisition of ChipX, Inc., a privately held fabless supplier of analog and mixed signal custom Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) on November 9.

It is anticipated that on a consolidated pro-forma, non-GAAP basis, the company, with locations in the U.S., Switzerland and Israel, will have had combined revenues for the first nine months of 2009 of more than $25M. GigOptix and its subsidiaries will also have a work force of approximately 95 employees, down from 115 pre-merger, of which around 40 percent are in research and development, and approximately 15 percent are in sales and marketing. As demonstrated in its previous three acquisitions, the company believes it will achieve significant financial efficiencies after consolidation. Prior to the acquisition, GigOptix employees delivered approximately $230K annual revenue per employee, which the company plans to better to over $300K annual revenue per employee in 2010.

"I am delighted with the strategic match we have found in ChipX which continues our vision of bringing complementary technologies together to increase value for our customers so that we can accelerate our growth engine and continue to enrich the features we offer while reducing the cost to our customers," said Dr. Avi Katz, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of GigOptix. "ChipX brings a loyal portfolio of tier one customers who use the first class design services and IP of ChipX to create their own truly differentiated custom products. Similarly, we will bring our own IP together with that of ChipX to bring new standard products to market faster, and at a lower investment by leveraging their excellent design capability. This acquisition fits into our continuous rollup and consolidation growth strategy and will support continuous improvement of all our financial and business metrics. I am excited to welcome the new team and look forward to working together to continue to deliver excellent results for our shareholders."

"ChipX is a long time valued supplier to National Instruments and we look forward to continuing this collaboration with GigOptix," said Keith Odom, Research and Development Fellow at National Instruments. "ChipX has a long track record of providing NI flexible, complex and cost-effective solutions such as mixed-signal ASICs for our USB 2.0 data acquisition products including NI CompactDAQ and advanced NI-STC3 PCI Express, timing and synchronization technology for our NI X Series DAQ devices. The joining of GigOptix and ChipX strengthens and broadens ChipX's high-speed analog offering, another critical component for NI Multifunction DAQ and modular instruments. ChipX was honored with an NI 2009 Global Supplier Award after demonstrating commitment and results that set them apart from the rest of the industry and we look forward to continuing this high standard of innovation with GigOptix."

More Information:

www.GigOptix.com

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