After Phoenix, AMI Changes Hands: Another Shakeup in the BIOS Market
The system firmware market, historically low-profile but crucial in the hardware ecosystem, is undergoing a phase of rapid consolidation. Following the recent acquisition of Phoenix Technologies' BIOS activities by Lenovo, another significant operation involves American Megatrends Inc. (AMI), one of the leading developers of UEFI/BIOS solutions globally.
Lattice Semiconductor has announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire AMI for a total value of $1.65 billion, combining cash and stock. The deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter of the year pending approval from the relevant authorities, marks a strategic shift for both companies.
Lattice is known for developing low-power FPGAs, used in various fields ranging from embedded systems to data centers. The acquisition of AMI introduces into the company's portfolio consolidated expertise in platform firmware and infrastructure management, areas that are increasingly relevant in cloud systems and AI architectures.
The stated goal is to build a comprehensive platform for the secure management and control of systems, integrating programmable hardware components with low-level software. Firmware is no longer just a layer for system initialization but becomes an integral part of security, monitoring, and remote management functionalities.
According to Lattice, the combination of the two technologies should facilitate the development of complex systems, improving deployment times, reliability, and management capabilities, especially in high-density environments like data centers.
The operation fits into Lattice's so-called "everywhere companion chip strategy", which aims to position its FPGAs as distributed support components within hardware platforms. The integration with AMI's firmware solutions could strengthen this approach, offering more granular control at the system level.
From a financial standpoint, the company anticipates exceeding an annual revenue run-rate of $1 billion by the end of 2026. AMI, for its part, is expected to generate over $200 million in revenue in the same year.
AMI is one of the most widely disseminated providers of UEFI/BIOS firmware, with a pervasive presence among motherboard and x86/x64 system manufacturers. The transition under Lattice's control should not, at least in their stated intentions, alter AMI's "agnostic" and multi-vendor approach to solutions, a key element in maintaining the trust of the ecosystem.
However, the ongoing consolidation further reduces the number of independent players in the sector. With this operation, Insyde Software remains the only independent UEFI/BIOS developer on a global scale, in a market that continues to be dominated by a few players.