Avago Springs From Agilent

Agilent completed the sale of its semiconductor business today, christening the privately held spinoff Avago Technologies.

Agilent sold the semiconductor division -- which includes optical transceivers, mostly for the enterprise market -- to private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Silver Lake Partners in a deal announced in August. (See Agilent Launches Extreme Makeover.

It's the second spinoff for some Agilent veterans, as Agilent itself went public out of Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) in 1999.

The new owners aren't making many immediate changes -- not a surprise given Avago's bulk: 6,500 employees across nine product divisions, making it the world's largest privately held chip company.

Craig Matsumoto, Senior Editor, Light ReadingRead the rest of the article on Light Reading