US-headquartered semiconductor company InvenSense, which makes motion sensors for Apple and Samsung Electronics, is exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
If it succeeds in selling itself, InvenSense would be the latest company to be swept up by a wave of consolidation in the industry, as makers of chips for smartphones face intense price competition and seek scale.
Smartphone chip-maker Qualcomm agreed to buy NXP Semiconductors for about US$38 billion this week, in the biggest-ever deal in the semiconductor industry.
InvenSense, which designs gyroscopes to help smartphones calculate motion, is working with an investment bank to explore its options, the people said. Chinese and Japanese companies are among interested suitors, they added.
There is no certainty that the sale process will result in any deal, the people cautioned.
The sources asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. InvenSense could not be reached for comment.
InvenSense, which competes with STMicroelectronics NV and Bosch Sensortech, got a boost in August when Pacific Crest Securities upgraded the rating on its stock, arguing the gyroscopes are essential to mobile phones for augmented reality games such as Pokemon Go.
InvenSense's chief executive Behrooz Abdi talked up the Pokemon Go opportunity on the company's last earnings call in July, and said more consumers playing games that involve moving around with their phones would boost demand for its gyroscope products.
InvenSense shares jumped as much as 13 percent on the news, and were trading up 61 cents at US$7.48 by late afternoon, giving the company a market capitalisation of nearly US$700 million.
(Reporting by Liana B. Baker in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr and Andrew Hay)
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