Audience, a maker of sound processing chips used in Apple’s iPhone, hopes to find a big audience on Wall Street. The company has filed for an initial public offering to be led by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG, and hopes to raise up to $75 million.
Audience’s processors separate voice communication from ambient noise, resulting in clearer calls on mobile phones. During the first nine months of 2011, Audience earned $13.9 million on revenue of just under $80 million, 79% of which came from Apple suppliers Foxconn and Protek. Samsung accounted for 17% of Audience’s sales for the first nine months of last year.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen was one of the early investors in Audience, which was founded in 2000. The company became profitable in 2010, and says it has sold 135 million chips to date. Going forward, however, Audience says it may license its technology to Apple rather than selling processors to the iPhone maker’s suppliers. In its filing, the company noted that the change “may have a material and negative effect on our business,” because the licensing fees are lower than the revenue it generates from selling the processors.
