Pava Partners is pleased to announce that Silicon Radar GmbH has been successfully sold to indie Semiconductor (Nasdaq: INDI). Silicon Radar is a Germany-based specialist in advanced, highly integrated, high-frequency system-on-chips (SoCs) for automotive radar applications, indie Semiconductor is an innovator of automotive technology solutions headquartered in California, USA.

Radar is a fundamental sensor modality for ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) and automotive safety applications. The growing number of radar units per vehicle requires high-performance and highly integrated semiconductors. These can support the ever-increasing operating frequencies with the lowest power consumption and at the same time satisfy the ever-increasing demand for resolution in both external and in-cabin radar systems. The radar industry is currently moving towards 120 GHz (detection in the vehicle interior) and 140 GHz (external detection). These higher frequencies enable the use of antenna-on-chip technologies, which significantly increases the level of integration and makes it possible to develop products with a complete radar on a chip. It significantly simplifies PCB design and drastically reduces costs, especially for occupant monitoring systems (OMS). It also opens up significant new market areas.

Silicon Radar covers the growing demand in the high-frequency range. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in Frankfurt (Oder) and specializes in the semiconductor design of 60 GHz, 120 GHz and 140 GHz high-frequency circuits for radar, sensors and wireless communication. With a team of 14 experienced mixed-signal SoC and system designers, Silicon Radar has developed 10 patents in the radar field and has already worked closely with indie to co-develop radar solutions for new radar applications, including 120 GHz and 140 GHz frequencies. indie focuses on edge sensors that cover multiple modalities such as radar, LiDAR, ultrasound and computer vision for e.g. ADAS and form the basis for electric and autonomous vehicles.

For Anja Bölicke, CEO of Silicon Radar, the acquisition by indie is the decisive step “to officially join forces after our longstanding partnership. By combining our core technologies with indie’s global distribution channels and proven scalability, we can accelerate our time to market and better capitalize on opportunities in the global radar market. Together, we can offer more cost-effective solutions for precise position, distance and speed sensing to enable safer mobility in a variety of applications.”

Donald McClymont, co-founder and CEO of indie, added: “indie’s acquisition of Silicon Radar strengthens our technology leadership in automotive radar applications, particularly with the industry’s first production-ready 120 GHz solution, and immediately expands our capabilities with the addition of a world-class design team in Europe.”

According to IHS, 138 million electronic control units for radar devices will be delivered in 2023, supporting short-, medium- and long-term applications such as interior monitoring, blind side detection, parking assistance and automatic emergency braking. The market is expected to more than double to 293 million units by 2028, representing a 6 billion dollar opportunity for radar semiconductors.

About Silicon Radar

Silicon Radar GmbH is a highly qualified team of engineers with decades of experience in radar chip and system design. Our focus is on the development and commercialization of cost-efficient system-on-chip solutions for radar, sensors and wireless communication in the 60 GHz, 120 GHz and 140 GHz bands as well as in higher mixed-signal bands.

About Indie Semiconductor

Indie Semiconductor is driving the autotech revolution with next-generation semiconductors and software platforms for the automotive industry. We focus on edge sensors that cover multiple modalities, including radar, LiDAR, ultrasonic and computer vision for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), user experience and electrification applications. These technologies form the foundation for electric and autonomous vehicles, while our advanced user interfaces, enabled by our mixed-signal SoCs, transform the in-vehicle driving experience to mirror and seamlessly connect with the mobile platforms we rely on every day. We are an approved supplier for Tier 1 partners and our solutions can be found in well-known automotive OEMs around the world. In addition to its headquarters in Aliso Viejo, California, indie has development centers and sales offices in Austin, TX; Boston, MA; Detroit, MI; San Francisco and San Jose, California; Córdoba, Argentina; Budapest, Hungary; Dresden, Munich, Nuremberg and Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany; Cambridge, England; Edinburgh, Scotland; Rabat, Morocco; Haifa and Tel Aviv, Israel; Quebec City, Canada; Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, South Korea and several locations in China.