Apple Bites Off Bay Area’s Passif Semiconductor

Cupertino’s largest employer, Apple, just scooped up another company—this time it’s Passif Semiconductor.

The Oakland-based company is tiny, but what it has to offer is big for Apple. The company is reportedly working on low-power communication chips.

The purchase was reported by Jessica Lessin and confirmed by other news agencies. Apple issued its standard response that “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time" without tipping its hand about how the technology will be used.

Apple also recently acquired Toronto-based Locationary and New York-based HopStop.

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