Netlogic to Buy RMI, an Ambitious Network Chip Maker

[qi:gigaom_icon_chip] It was almost five years ago when I first learned about Raza Microelectronics (RMI), which was started by former AMD (s amd) (and Nexgen) executive Atiq Raza. Raza took three projects from his incubator company, Raza Foundries, and merged them to form RMI. From there, RMI went on to buy Sandcraft, a microprocessor startup, and to raise a total of more than $120 million. Today comes news that NetLogic Microsystems (s NETL), a Mountain View, Calif.-based fabless chip maker, has agreed to acquire RMI for $183.4 million in cash and stock. Not much of a return for investors, which include Benchmark Captial, Warburg Pincus, DAG Ventures and Advanced Equities. For NetLogic, however, this is a good buy — RMI has a nice portfolio of products that include chips for 4G networks and wireless backhaul networks, both growing opportunities in and of themselves.