Imaging, vision, and color measurement company Konica Minolta Sensing Europe., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Konica Minolta, Inc., announced on November 27 a definitive agreement to acquire hyperspectral imaging company Specim, Spectral Imaging Oy Ltd.
The acquisition is the end of a process that began in Spring 2020 when Specim, supported by Finnish investors Nordic Option and Bocap since 2015 and 2017 respectively, began a competitive trade sale process to court buyers. The Board at Specim determined that Konica Minolta was the best home for Specim’s technology, customers, and employees. “Konica Minolta shares our vision and values and will greatly support our business through improved sell-through and reach to global customers markets”, says Tapio Kallonen, CEO of Specim.
“Specim’s assets in hyperspectral imaging will significantly contribute to our growth strategy, which expands our business into the fields of safety, security, and environmental sciences,” says Hitoshi Kamezawa, Executive Officer and General manager of Konica Minolta’s Sensing Business Unit.
The Konica Minolta/Specim deal adds to a list of major machine vision and imaging acquisitions in 2020.
In September, GPU manufacturer NVIDIA announced the acquisition of processor manufacturer Arm for $40B in cash and NVIDIA shares. NVIDIA announced that it would expand Arm’s R&D presence in Cambridge, UK by establishing a new AI research and education center. The two companies are also collaborating on the development of a supercomputer for research powered by Arm and NVIDIA technologies.
In October, AMD announced the acquisition of Xilinx in a $35B all-stock transaction. The merging of these semiconductor manufacturing companies combined AMD’s high-performance processor technologies with Xilinx’s expertise in FPGAs, adaptive SoCs, and edge and end devices. The companies expect their complimentary portfolios to open new opportunities in the gaming, PC, communications, automotive, industrial, and aerospace and defense sectors.
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