Intel announced an agreement to acquire Ziatech for approximately $240 million in cash on August 14, 2000. The acquisition closed in October 2000. Ziatech made Intel Architecture-based boards and hardware platforms for telecommunications equipment manufacturers, giving Intel more communications-infrastructure products to offer.
What was the Intel–Ziatech deal?
Intel announced on August 14, 2000, that it had entered a definitive agreement to buy privately held Ziatech Corporation in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $240 million. The announcement said the deal was subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory review, and that Ziatech would become a wholly owned Intel subsidiary. Intel’s announcement
Intel’s 2000 annual report says the acquisition was completed in October 2000. It records $222 million in purchase consideration, with cash and options assumed. The report also lists $18 million of purchased in-process research and development, $147 million of goodwill and $38 million of other identified intangible assets. Intel’s 2000 annual report
The approximately $240 million announcement value and the $222 million purchase-consideration figure are not interchangeable: the first was the transaction value Intel publicized when it announced the agreement; the second was the consideration recorded in the annual report’s acquisition table. The table separately reports the research-and-development charge and acquired intangible assets.
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What did Ziatech make?
Ziatech designed and marketed Intel Architecture-based circuit boards, hardware platforms and development systems. Intel said the products were primarily sold to telecommunications equipment manufacturers that needed flexible, highly reliable equipment. Its named customers included Ericsson, Copper Mountain Networks, Nortel Networks, Lucent Technologies, Marconi/Fore and Redback Networks. Intel’s announcement
Why CompactPCI mattered
Ziatech was a leading contributor to the CompactPCI specification, an open standard for high-performance voice and data communications applications. The standard was relevant to equipment makers building communications systems where reliability and performance mattered, including products supporting internet transactions and broadband and wireless communications, as Intel described them at the time.
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Why did Intel buy Ziatech?
Intel said the acquisition would strengthen its presence in communications-infrastructure products and broaden its Communications Products Group’s ability to provide hardware and software building blocks for internet systems. It pointed to Ziatech’s experienced workforce, engineering expertise and intellectual property as assets that complemented Intel’s existing communications portfolio. Intel’s announcement
Strategically, Ziatech added products at the board-and-platform level: computing components that telecommunications equipment makers could incorporate into their own gear. Intel’s stated plan was to combine those Intel Architecture-based building blocks with its existing communications products, rather than to acquire a telecommunications service provider or a maker of complete network services.
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What happened to Ziatech’s employees?
At announcement, Intel said Ziatech’s approximately 200 employees would join Intel’s Communications Products Group after the transaction closed. The annual report confirms the October 2000 completion date, but the cited records do not provide further detail about later staffing or product-support arrangements.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the historical records do—and do not—establish
Intel’s announcement and annual report document the deal’s stated value, products, customer base, intended strategic fit, workforce transition and completion. They do not establish whether Ziatech-branded products remain supported or available today. Because this was a specialist hardware business acquired in 2000, current availability or compatibility should not be assumed from the historical deal announcement.
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