John Lindgren

Mosaid Technologies Inc. has found a buyer for its semiconductor intellectual property (IP) business.

The Ottawa-based company said that it has signed an agreement with California semiconductor design software maker Synopsys Inc. to sell the semiconductor IP division for $15 million US in cash.

Mosaid said Synopsys plans to hire all 18 staff in its Kanata semiconductor IP engineering team, although 10 of its engineers at its California location will lose their jobs.

Synopsys began the year with about 50 staff at its local operation.

"With the sale of our semiconductor IP assets to Synopsys, we will move forward as a pure-play intellectual property company focused on patent licensing and advanced memory research and development," said Mosaid chief executive John Lindgren in a statement. "Our semiconductor IP group has successfully developed and sold best-in-class technology and products to the global semiconductor industry. We decided that these assets would perform better in the hands of an industry leader with complementary product lines and the scale to succeed in a competitive market, allowing us to concentrate on our core business."

Synopsys will buy the assets and IP associated with Mosaid's double data rate (DDR) memory controller and phase locked loop (PLL) frequency regulator product families, and will also receive an exclusive licence to certain patents and pending applications associated with Mosaid's current memory controller and PLL product lines.

The deal follows the $17.8-million sale of Mosaid's test equipment systems division to Teradyne Inc., and is the last vestige of its "hard" form business.

The semiconduct IP division mostly designs and licenses semiconductor IP circuit blocks for fabless semiconductor companies, which CEO John Lindgren said earlier was still a physical form of intellectual property.

Besides its patent licensing business, Mosaid will also work on memory technology research and development specifically to generate strong patents.

The deal is expected to close in August this year, with the payment subject to a $2-million US hold-back for one year.