DSP Group, Inc. (DSPG)

DSP Group, Inc. was a fabless semiconductor company that designed chips for voice, audio and wireless connectivity. It became the leading supplier of chipsets for DECT cordless phones, and later moved into ultra-low-energy wireless links for smart home devices, voice processors for always-listening products, and chips for office VoIP phones and headsets. Its chips were used by many of the largest makers of home phones, office phones, smart speakers and home automation products around the world.

The company was founded in 1987, originally licensing digital signal processor cores, and it listed on Nasdaq in the 1990s under the symbol DSPG. Its main research and development operations were in Israel, while its US base was in Northern California, with additional offices in Germany and the United Kingdom. The company's customer base was concentrated in Asia, where most consumer electronics are assembled, and a few large phone makers accounted for a significant share of sales.

As the cordless phone market matured, DSP Group shifted its focus to what it called the Internet of Audio Things, including SmartVoice processors with built-in noise suppression and AI acceleration. In 2020 it bought SoundChip, a Swiss noise cancellation specialist, to strengthen its position in headsets and earbuds. These newer product lines grew as a share of revenue, while the legacy cordless phone business continued to shrink slowly year after year.

In August 2021 Synaptics agreed to buy DSP Group for $22.00 per share in cash, a deal valued at about $538 million, to add low-power wireless and voice technology to its own Internet of Things business. The merger closed on December 2, 2021, and DSP Group's stock was delisted from Nasdaq the next day. The combination added DSP Group's engineering teams and customer relationships to Synaptics, which had been expanding beyond its traditional touch and display products.