Mumbai: Microsemi Corporation, a leading manufacturer of high performance analog mixed signal integrated circuits and high reliability semiconductors, has acquired substantially all of the assets of semiconductor firm Semicoa for about $25 million in cash.

Semicoa is a leader in the design, development and manufacture of semiconductors and smart munitions optoelectronics for the high reliability military, commercial aerospace and satellite markets, and is a leading competitor in the small signal high reliability transistor markets.

''Not only is the acquisition accretive, but it also offers considerable long term synergies as we consolidate Semicoa's current operations", said James J. Peterson, president and chief executive of Microsemi Corporation.

Semicoa has, in recent years, been rapidly expanding capacity to meet strong end market demand and expects to consolidate its front-end and back-end equipment and operations into its Lawrence and Ireland facilities, thus increasing capacity while benefiting from our operational advantages."

Microsemi Corporation, with corporate headquarters in Irvine, California, is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of high performance analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits and high reliability semiconductors. The company's semiconductors manage and control or regulate power, protect against transient voltage spikes and transmit, receive and amplify signals.

Microsemi's products include individual components as well as integrated circuit solutions that enhance customer designs by improving performance and reliability, battery optimization, reducing size or protecting circuits. The principal markets the company serves include implanted medical, defense/aerospace and satellite, notebook computers, monitors and LCD TVs, automotive and mobile connectivity applications.

Microsemi Corporation last year acquired Israel-based chipmaker PowerDsine Ltd. for $245 million, in a move to add `power-over-Ethernet' technology to its portfolio.

PowerDsine, along with US chipmakers Texas Instruments Inc, Maxim Integrated Products Inc, and Linear Technology Corp dominate the market for PoE technology. PoE products are designed to transmit electrical power and data over Ethernet network cable. The technology is used to power webcams, internet protocol telephones, access points for local area networks, network switches and other equipment that is impractical to supply electricity to separately.

In another deal last year, Microsemi acquired rival analog chipmaker Advanced Power Technology Inc. to bolster its mixed-signal business in a transaction worth $132 million.

Analog devices convert waves, such as light or heat, into the digital language of ones and zeros. A computer or consumer device can then compute these digital bits. Mixed-signal chips combine analog and digital circuits on one chip, used a lot with communications devices such as TVs, cell phones and other products that deal with sound and video.