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In early 1999, Atmel agreed to acquire Motorola’s Smart Information Transfer (SIT) smart-card semiconductor business. The unit made microcontroller-based chips for cards used in banking, identification, pay phones and health credentials. The purchase was intended to broaden Atmel’s technology beyond secure-memory products and strengthen its position in Europe.
What Atmel bought
The transaction covered Motorola’s Smart Information Transfer, or SIT, unit—not Motorola as a whole. SIT specialized in microcontroller-based integrated circuits for smart cards. These chips could execute instructions and manage card operations, adding processing capability to applications that also depended on secure data storage.
The Los Angeles Times reported on January 29, 1999 that the deal would make Atmel the No. 3 producer of chips used to store information in banking and identification cards. EDN identified the seller’s operation as the SIT unit in its February 2, 1999 coverage.
Products and applications
The acquired technology supported several established smart-card uses:
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- Banking: payment and account cards requiring protected data and on-card processing.
- Identification: cards that store and verify identity information.
- Pay phones: telecommunications cards already common in parts of Europe.
- Health identification: cards carrying credentials or records for healthcare systems.
These were semiconductor components sold into card and systems markets, rather than finished consumer cards or card readers.
When the deal happened and what it cost
| Item | Established detail |
|---|---|
| Announcement | Atmel’s agreement was reported in late January 1999; EDN published details on February 2, 1999. |
| Expected closing | EDN said closing was expected in the first or second quarter of 1999. |
| Reported completion date | A secondary acquisitions database lists April 27, 1999. That date is database corroboration, not a primary company announcement. |
| Purchase price | Not disclosed in the contemporaneous Los Angeles Times and EDN reports. |
| Estimated 1999 revenue contribution | Atmel expected the unit to contribute about $30 million in 1999 revenue, according to EDN. |
The approximately $30 million figure was a forward-looking estimate for the acquired operation’s 1999 contribution, not the purchase price.
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Why the acquisition mattered to Atmel
A broader smart-card technology mix
Before the transaction, Atmel’s smart-card portfolio was weighted toward secure-memory products. SIT added microcontroller-based chips, giving Atmel a stronger combination of memory and processing capability for cards that needed to perform more intelligent functions.
Greater European reach
Smart cards were already widely used in Europe, including telephone and health-identification programs. EDN reported that the Motorola business would strengthen Atmel’s European presence, where adoption was ahead of the United States.
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- USB-C/Type C CAC card reader military, compatible with Windows 10/11, Mac OS 10.15 or later verison. (Windows 11 need a driver)
- MAC user: Java is necessary for MAC user. Please install Java firstly on Java's official website. DOD and USG users: need a third-party CAC Enabler program
- ID/IC strong compatibility. Supports Government ID, ActivClient, AKO, OWA, DKO, JKO, NKO, BOL, GKO, Marinenet, AF Portal, Pure Edge Viewer, ApproveIt, DCO, DTS, LPS, Disa Enterprise Email and etc. CAC chip cards.
- Don't support Iphone and ipad
- Compatible with US Military and Government DOD ID cards. Good for online banking and credit card payment apps, etc
A response to uneven U.S. adoption
The U.S. market was developing more slowly at the time, partly because of security concerns. Atmel’s expanded product line and European customer access offered a way to participate in established deployments while the American market matured.
What the public record does—and does not—establish
- The asset was Motorola’s SIT smart-card semiconductor operation, not the entire Motorola company.
- The chips were microcontroller-based and targeted banking, identification, pay-phone and health-card applications.
- The financial terms were not publicly disclosed in the cited contemporaneous reports.
- Atmel publicly estimated about $30 million in revenue from the unit during 1999.
- The April 27 completion date comes from a secondary database and should be treated more cautiously than the contemporaneous reporting.
Bottom line on the 1999 transaction
Atmel acquired Motorola’s SIT business to move from a primarily secure-memory smart-card portfolio toward more capable microcontroller-based products and to deepen its European presence. As Atmel marketing vice president Jeff Katz put it, “The acquisition will complement our business nicely.”
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