Inside Contactless is buying the secure microcontroller business from chip maker Atmel Corp., France-based Inside announced today.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Inside says it is paying cash for the business. San Jose, Calif.-based Atmel will make a concurrent investment in Inside, as will a group of existing Inside investors, Inside says.
Secure microcontrollers control access to chip applications, including those used in payment smart cards.
“The acquisition of Atmel expands Inside’s existing payments, access and identification business, while it advances the company’s roadmap for new offerings for the dual-interface EMV payment markets in Canada, Europe, Asia and Latin America,” an Inside spokesperson tells PaymentsSource.
The acquisition also will be useful in the chip maker’s electronic passport, Near Field Communication and mobile-payments products, Inside says.
Inside will be among the largest semiconductor companies in France following the acquisition. The company, which expects the deal to close in the third quarter, says it is not buying Atmel’s fabrication capacity, which actually makes the chips. Inside will continue to design chips and outsource their production, the company says.
