Industrial sensor giant Teledyne is buying FLIR Systems for about $8 billion in cash and stock. The deal combines companies that both make sensors but each makes image sensors that are based on different chips for different wavelengths of light.
“Our respective companies are perfectly complementary with minimal overlapping technologies and markets,” said Teledyne Executive Chairman Robert Mehrabian in describing the deal on an analyst call on Monday.
Both make systems that serve different markets for unmanned and autonomous systems, with FLIR reaching markets across air and land while Teledyne is focused on subsea markets, he added.
Broadly, Mehrabian said Teledyne’s proprietary imaging sensors function in the x-ray, ultraviolet, visible light and near infrared wavelengths, along with millimeter, microwave and radio. Meanwhile, FLIR is focused on the larger infrared market.
Within the infrared imaging markets, Teledyne serves what it calls a niche aerospace market, while FLIR is focused on commercial thermography, auto, consumer and other markets. Teledyne’s infrared detector tech works on mercury cadmium telluride while Flur’s uses indium antimonide, microbolometer/thermal/uncooled, indium gallium arsenide and quantum well infrared photodetector, according to a Teledyne slide.
Teledyne’s 2020 sales were $3.1 billion while FLIR’s reached $1.9 billion.
FLIR has made imaging technology used in iPhones and BMW luxury models. Analysts believe that thermal imaging will become important in future advanced driver assist systems and autonomous vehicles.
Image sensors comprise a global market valued at nearly $20 billion in 2020. Meanwhile, the market for thermal image cameras is also robust, about $2 billion in 2020, according to Fortune Business Insights.
Analysts expect more consolidation within the thermal camera market, which includes FLIR along with more than a dozen others including SATIR, New Imaging Technologies, Seek Thermal, Princeton Infrared Technologies, Sierra-Olympic Systems and Synectics.
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