Tessera to buy Digital Optics for $59.5 million

SAN JOSE, CA-Tessera Technologies signed a definitive agreement to purchase Digital Optics Corporation (Charlotte, NC), a provider of micro-optical solutions, for $59.5 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2006. Digital Optics will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tessera and its 100,000 sq ft facility will become Tessera’s Micro-Optics Center of Excellence. Tessera expects Digital Optics to contribute services revenue ranging from $7 million to $8 million this year.

According to Tessera, the acquisition builds upon the wafer-level image sensor packaging technology assets acquired from Shellcase in December 2005. The Digital Optics team and key technology will be components in Tessera’s development of low-cost, miniaturized imaging solutions for high-volume consumer optics applications, such as camera phones, next-generation DVD players and automotive applications.