History
Sierra Wireless was founded in 1993 in Vancouver, Canada. In August 2003, it completed an acquisition of privately held, high-speed CDMA wireless modules supplier, AirPrime,[4] issuing approximately 3.7 million shares to AirPrime shareholders.[5] On March 6, 2007, the company announced its purchase of Hayward, California-based AirLink Communications, a privately held developer of fixed, portable, and mobile wireless data solutions.[6] Prior to the May 2007 completion of its sale to Sierra Wireless for a total of $27 million in cash and stock, AirLink had reported $24.8 million in revenues and gross margin of 44 percent.[7]
In August 2008, Sierra Wireless purchased the assets of Junxion, a Seattle based producer of Linux-based mobile wireless access points and network routers for enterprise and government customers.[8] In December 2008, Sierra Wireless made a friendly all-cash bid to acquire Wavecom, a French M2M wireless technology developer. The sale was completed for $275 million.[9]
In August 2012, the company acquired SAGEMCOM's M2M business in a cash transaction of EUR44.9 million plus assumed liabilities.[10] In November 2012, Sierra Wireless was recognized as an M2M market leader by market research and intelligence firm, ABI Research. Based on the company's aggregated revenues, ABI found that Sierra Wireless held a 34 percent share of the M2M module market.[11]
In January 2013, Sierra Wireless sold all assets and operations related to its AirCard business to NETGEAR, Inc. for $138 million in cash plus approximately $6.5 million in assumed liabilities.[12]
In April 2017, Sierra Wireless acquired GlobalTop Technology's GNSS embedded modules business for $3.2 million.[13] In December, 2017, Sierra Wireless acquired Numerex, in a deal estimated at US$107 million.[14][15][16][17]
In 2020, Sierra Wireless completed the acquisition of M2M Group in Australia for US$18.4 million and M2M One in New Zealand for US$3.5 million.[18] In the same year, the company sold its automotive business for US$144 million.[19] In April 2020, Sierra Wireless appointed Samuel Cochrane as Chief Financial Officer.[20] In November 2020, Sierra Wireless sold its automotive modules division to Rolling Wireless.[21]
In July 2021, Sierra Wireless appointed Phil Brace as CEO.[22]
In August 2022, Semtech agreed to buy Sierra Wireless in an all-cash transaction valued at US$1.2 billion including debt.[23] The acquisition was completed in January 2023.[24]
