Indie to expand photonics presence with ams Osram acquisition

Indie Semiconductor (indie), the Silicon Valley chip foundry, is set to expand its growing presence in the photonics sector with the acquisition of ams Osram’s fabless CMOS image sensor group.

A cash deal worth up to €40 million will see indie take ownership of a business with primary operations in Belgium and Portugal, and a product line featuring high‑performance CMOS image sensors for a broad range of applications across industrial, automation, and AI sectors including humanoid robots and so-called “cobots”.

“This portfolio of products, IP, and designs aligns with indie’s automotive advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) sensing solutions and further strengthens the company’s multimodal sensing capabilities across radar, vision, lidar, and ultrasonic,” announced the foundry.

Mark Tyndall, indie’s executive VP of corporate development and investor relations, added: “This unique carve-out extends our position in sensor‑fusion technology and significantly expands our portfolio of GaN SLED (superluminescent LED) light‑source solutions.

“Together, these technologies broaden our offerings, open new customer opportunities, and position indie to capture a larger share of the rapidly emerging physical AI market.”

$40 billion market projected

Pointing out that image sensors are a key component of sensor-rich platforms within high-performance visual applications and industrial automation in particular, indie cites some projections that the market for such devices could grow to more than $40 billion by 2030.

“This market growth is being driven by rising autonomy, safety regulations, and increased adoption of AI-based vision ADAS systems, as well as applications that require multimodal sensing, low-latency, and high-resolution,” states the firm, whose other photonics-related acquisitions have included Swiss SLED maker Exalos and Canadian component maker TeraXion.

This latest deal, which comprises a cash payment of €35 million and a €5 million vendor debt note provided by ams Osram that is payable after two years, sees the Austrian firm further concentrate its efforts on photonics technologies for smart glasses and AI applications.

“While [our] CMOS image sensor [business] represents a strong technology platform, our strategic priority is to concentrate investments on those AI-driven segments that offer the most promising growth prospects and where we clearly differentiate,” explained CEO Aldo Kamper. “Our transformation into the digital photonics powerhouse is progressing.”

Around half of the proceeds from the sale, which is expected to close by September, will be used to pay off some of ams Osram’s debts.

“The CMOS image sensor business fits well within indie Semiconductor’s portfolio and strategic direction and will thus be in a good position to further its business,” the Austrian firm added.