Texas Instruments has announced that it has acquired Innovative Design Solutions (IDS), an analogue chip specialist and longtime TI supplier.

The acquisition comes in the same week as TI's Q2 mid-quarter update, in which the Dallas-based company noted weakness in wireless handsets but strength in analogue.

Indeed, TI said it expects its analogue segment to record revenue growth quarter over quarter, as well as year over year, in Q2.

"Analogue is at the heart of solving some of the world's most challenging problems and continues to be a significant area in which TI is growing and serving its customers," said Art George, senior VP of TI's high performance analogue business unit, in a statement. "Integrating the technical expertise of the IDS team with TI's talented analogue engineers enhances our ability to deliver the right analogue products for our customers' applications."

Melbourne, Florida-based IDS designs integrates high-speed analogue products for applications such as test and measurement, communications, and medical electronics. TI's existing portfolio of high-speed signal chain products includes amplifiers, data converters, and clocking devices.

"We've enjoyed working closely with TI over the past 10 years to create integrated designs. We look forward to being a part of the TI team to deliver more innovative solutions to optimise high-speed signal chain performance, simplify design and reduce time to market for customers," Randy Heilman, president of IDS, said in the statement.

TI did not disclose the financial details of the acquisition, nor did TI detail plans for the integration of IDS into its analogue group.

By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News - Electronic News

See also: The Violins Of Agrate [Mannerisms blog]
Talking last week about STMicroelectronics' plans to return the company to its roots as an analogue house, Carlo Ottaviani, ST's corporate vice president for communications, mused: "No one has ever managed to perfectly replicate the sound made by a Stradivarius violin."