Marvell Technology acquires Aquantia to capitalise on Automotive In-Vehicle Networking

Marvell Technology Group Ltd., a leader in infrastructure semiconductor solutions, and Aquantia, Corp., a leader in Multi-Gig Ethernet connectivity, announced a definitive agreement, approved by the boards of directors of both companies, under which Marvell will acquire all outstanding shares of Aquantia common stock in exchange for consideration of $13.25 per share in cash.

The acquisition of Aquantia complements Marvell's portfolio of copper and optical physical layer product offerings and extends its position in the Multi-Gig 2.5G/5G/10G Ethernet segments. In particular, Aquantia's innovative Multi-gig automotive PHYs, coupled with Marvell's industry-leading gigabit PHY and secure switch products, creates the broadest and most advanced range of high-speed in-car networking solutions in the world. This unique combination accelerates Marvell's vision for the future of automotive networking with speeds necessary to enable level 4 and 5 autonomous driving.

As the automotive industry increasingly adopts Ethernet in-vehicle networks for mainstream models, the number of related ports is expected to grow dramatically at a 62% annualised growth trajectory, from 53 million in 2018 to 367 million by 2021.

“Our acquisition of Aquantia will fuel Marvell's leadership in the transformation of the in-car network to high-speed Ethernet over the next decade,” said Matt Murphy, president and CEO of Marvell. “At the same time, Aquantia extends our reach in the rapidly emerging Multi-Gig segment of network infrastructure and creates a leading end-to-end Ethernet connectivity portfolio.”

“Marvell and Aquantia share a vision where the network - whether in an autonomous vehicle, an enterprise application or in cloud infrastructure - can seamlessly power the data economy,” said Faraj Aalaei, Chairman and CEO of Aquantia. “This is a fantastic opportunity as our customers will benefit from Marvell's global scale and expanding footprint in Multi-Gig network applications.”

The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Marvell's non-GAAP earnings per share and generate significant annual run-rate synergies of $40 million to be realised within 12 months after the transaction closes.