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On June 23, 2000, Texas Instruments announced an agreement to acquire Alantro Communications for approximately $300 million in TI stock. TI said Alantro’s wireless-LAN technology would complement its DSL and cable-modem chips, letting the company pursue wireless distribution of broadband inside homes and offices.
What did TI agree to buy, and for how much?
The announced consideration was about $300 million in Texas Instruments stock, according to EE Times’ June 23, 2000 report. The report describes an agreement to acquire Alantro, not the terms of a completed transaction: it does not state an exchange ratio or establish the final legal closing date.
What was Alantro Communications?
Alantro was a three-year-old, privately held fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, with additional sites in San Diego and Raleigh, North Carolina. It had about 50 employees when the deal was announced. Its strengths included signal processing and the application and design know-how needed for wireless networking.
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Was Alantro a Wi-Fi chip company?
Alantro developed wireless-LAN technology conforming to IEEE 802.11, the family of standards associated with Wi-Fi networking. The contemporaneous report identifies its wireless networking technology and expertise; it does not specify a particular product model, retail chip, or later commercial product line.
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Why did Texas Instruments want Alantro?
TI’s stated aim was to pair Alantro’s wireless networking know-how with its existing broadband access technology. George Barber, TI vice president and manager of the Broadband Access Group, described the goal as “one more step by TI to bring broadband into and throughout the home or office.” He said TI’s DSL and cable-modem chipsets could deliver broadband to a home, while Alantro’s technology could distribute it wirelessly through the home or office.
Alantro founder and CEO Chris Heegard said its technology would leverage TI’s digital signal-processing (DSP) strength. Strategically, the deal joined broadband access at the connection point with wireless LAN inside the premises—a home-and-office networking play, rather than an acquisition described as a cellular or mobile-phone initiative.
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How was Alantro to fit into TI?
TI planned to place Alantro within its Broadband Access Group. At announcement, the companies expected the acquisition to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2000. That was a stated expectation, not confirmation in the cited report that the deal closed on that date.
How did the deal relate to TI’s earlier wireless acquisition?
TI had previously announced the acquisition of Butterfly VLSI in January 1999. EE Times described Butterfly’s work as short-distance radio-frequency integrated circuits for the 900-MHz and 2.4-GHz bands. The Alantro announcement, by contrast, centered on IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN and distributing broadband around a home or office.
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| Acquisition | Technology and intended use | Deal details reported | Planned place in TI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alantro Communications, announced June 2000 | IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN; wireless networking to distribute DSL and cable-modem broadband in homes and offices. | About $300 million in TI stock; Alantro had about 50 employees and sites in Santa Rosa, San Diego, and Raleigh. | TI’s Broadband Access Group; completion expected by the end of Q3 2000. |
| Butterfly VLSI, announced January 1999 | Short-distance RF integrated circuits in the 900-MHz and 2.4-GHz bands. | Consideration, workforce, and locations are not stated in the cited June 2000 report. | Not stated in the cited June 2000 report. |
The June 2000 account establishes the announcement, rationale, and planned integration, but does not document Alantro’s subsequent product or corporate history. It therefore cannot establish what happened to the company after the expected acquisition timetable.
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