University of Limerick spin-out acquired for $70 million cash

Irish founded semiconductor company Powervation has been acquired by Japanese electronics firm ROHM for approximately $70 million.

The University of Limerick spin-out was purchased in an all-cash transaction.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Cork, Powervation has established itself as a leading innovator in digital power controllers serving high performance computing, cloud and communications infrastructure markets.

"ROHM and Powervation share a common vision for the role of digital power technology in transforming the market with next-generation high performance power solutions," ROHM senior vice-president Mike Smith said.

Powervation will become a fully owned subsidiary of ROHM, with its principal design centre in Cork.

Powervation chief executive Mike McAuliffe said his team was excited to join forces with ROHM, a top 25 global semiconductor company.

“We have built an innovative digital power integrated circuit (IC) company to date but the combination with ROHM now presents a compelling opportunity for broad market leadership in digital power management solutions,” he added.