Deutsche Telekom VC Firm Sells Lantiq Shares
T-Venture, the venture capital company at Deutsche Telekom, has successfully sold its shares in Lantiq, a Munich based chip manufacturer. Lantiq was founded as a spin-off of Infineon in 2009 and subsequently acquired by Intel. Lantiq broadband communication chips are found in many routers and DSL modems. They are considered a key component for the upcoming smart-home market.
"For a long time already, T-Venture has been intentionally investing in technology companies that focus on core components for the major markets of the future. Regarding Lantiq, this was largely in the context of the ever growing demands of broadband communication, especially in the smart-home sector. We, as Deutsche Telekom, had been working very closely with the Lantiq's precursory organization at that point in time and recognized the great potential and that is why we invested in the spin-off," said Holger Wagner, senior investment manager at T-Venture. With the takeover of their position in reference to cable modems, Intel had also announced plans to expand home appliances for other types of access, such as xDSL, LTE or fiberglass. By 2018, Intel expects to see about 800 million households with broadband connections.
“Beyond Lantiq, T-Venture has a strategic relevant portfolio of other innovative technology companies, which will influence the IT and telecommunication market significantly,” said T-Venture managing director Michael Boshammer, classifying the current disposition to Intel. "Just as Lantiq has key technology for the smart-home, the other companies in which we have invested offer key components for future markets." As examples, he cited participation in Ranovus and Skorpios. Both companies address the rapidly growing market for data center connections, which handle more than 80 percent of Internet traffic, and they both provide technology to reduce costs tenfold for this sector. T
