Aricent Acquires SmartPlay - Accelerates R&D for Semiconductors, Embedded Systems and Internet of Things

Deal Makes Aricent #1 in Semiconductor Engineering Services

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – August 11, 2015 – Aricent today announced the acquisition of SmartPlay Technologies, a fast-growing product engineering services firm with 1,200-plus employees and deep design expertise across semiconductors, embedded software and system design. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The acquisition immediately establishes Aricent as the #1 product engineering services firm in the semiconductor market, with more than 2,000 combined experts and relationships with 17 of the top 20 semiconductor companies. It also expands Aricent’s services and expertise to help the world’s top innovators accelerate development of software, hardware and network products for the Internet of Things.

Pradeep Vajram, co-founder and CEO of SmartPlay, will take on a new role as president of Aricent’s Semiconductor Business Unit. He reports to Frank Kern, Aricent’s chief executive officer.

“SmartPlay has built a very impressive business over the last seven years, and we’re excited to welcome them to the Aricent family,” said Kern. “Our combined expertise in silicon, software and connectivity will help propel product development for our clients in some of the most exciting technology areas – working across automotive, consumer electronics, industrial automation, semiconductor and other industries.”

SmartPlay is one of the world’s fastest-growing services firms with 1,200 employees in India, Germany, Singapore and the U.S. It serves 80% of the top 20 semiconductor companies and received the Mentor Graphics Leadership Award for Best Electronics System Design Start-up. It was also ranked as a top employer in the 2015 Great Places to Work survey in India.

“Joining Aricent is a great cultural fit for the SmartPlay team, given our shared belief in high-quality, high-value product engineering services,” said Vajram. “We can now deliver a more powerful proposition to clients across industries that need smart silicon and embedded software to accelerate their R&D initiatives.”

Vajram brings 25 years of semiconductor industry experience to Aricent, having executed design and development of semiconductor products at all levels of responsibility. Prior to co-founding SmartPlay, Vajram was vice president of engineering at Qualcomm. Under his leadership, the Qualcomm Bangalore Design Center developed as a strong center of excellence with multiple successful products.

Today’s acquisition expands Aricent’s 10,000-person engineering team and deepens its diversification strategy, which has helped it become one of the top 10 leaders in Global R&D Services – with recognized depth across nine industries: Telecommunications, Networking, Consumer Electronics, Industrial Automation, Semiconductor, Automotive, Internet Services, Consumer & Enterprise Software and Media & Entertainment.

Speaking of this acquisition, Pari Natarajan, CEO of Zinnov, a leading globalization and market expansion advisory firm said - “Next generation IOT solutions require a combination of deep usability/design, communication, software, semiconductor and embedded capabilities. This acquisition has helped Aricent to become a leader in building IOT solutions and provide end to end product engineering services to customers across industry verticals.”

About Aricent

Aricent is the world’s #1 pure-play product engineering services firm. The company has 20-plus years experience co-creating ambitious products with the top networking, telecom, software, semiconductor, Internet and industrial companies. The firm's 10,000-plus engineers focus exclusively on software-powered innovation for the connected world. Key investors are KKR & Co. LP and Sequoia Capital.