Texas Instruments is selling its Sensors & Controls business the private equity investment firm, Bain Capital, for $3bn in cash. The deal will allow TI to focus on its digital signal processing and analogue semiconductor businesses.

Sensors & Controls has annual revenues of more than $1bn (more than half of this coming from outside North America), and employs about 5,400 people worldwide. It specialises in custom-engineered, application-specific sensors, and control products such as circuit-breakers, switches and thermostats. It produces more than a billion devices a year.

The current management team will continue to run the business. "We are eager to start this new chapter in our history," says president, Thomas Wroe Jr. "We have made tremendous strides improving profitability while growing the business. This transaction will allow us to accelerate our growth and serve our customers more effectively."