Aptiv to buy software firm Wind River for US$4.3bn

Aptiv, a global technology company focused on making mobility safer and more connected, has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Wind River from TPG Capital for $4.3 billion, seeking to gain on a surge in spending by automakers to digitalise their cars.

Wind River is a global leader in delivering software for the intelligent edge. Used on over two billion edge devices across more than 1,700 customers globally, Wind River’s software enables the secure development, deployment, operations and servicing of mission-critical intelligent systems. 

This edge-to-cloud software portfolio spans the aerospace and defense, telecommunications, industrial and automotive markets, the company generated approximately $400 million in revenues in 2021.

Deploying seamless and effective software 

The acquisition allows Aptiv to execute against the large software-defined mobility opportunity and expand into multiple high-value industries with Wind River’s world-class team and leading intelligent systems software platform. The combination will enable multiple end-use innovations and applications, particularly as compute and processing continues to move closer to the edge and connected devices, including vehicles, expand in complexity and capabilities. 

“The automotive industry is undergoing its largest transformation in over a century, as connected, software-defined vehicles increasingly become critical elements of the broader intelligent ecosystem,” said Kevin Clark, president and chief executive officer of Aptiv. 

“Fully capitalising on this opportunity requires comprehensive solutions that enable software to be developed faster, deployed seamlessly and optimised throughout the vehicle lifecycle by leveraging data-driven insights. These same needs are driving the growth of the intelligent edge across multiple end markets. With Aptiv and Wind River’s synergistic technologies and decades of experience delivering safety-critical systems, we will accelerate this journey to a software-defined future of the automotive industry.”    

Accelerating digital transformations to provide customers with improved systems

Aptiv will combine Wind River Studio offering with its  SVA platform and automotive expertise to extend its position in automotive software solutions, providing automotive customers with a faster and economical path to full vehicle software architecture. Led by Kevin Dallas, Wind River will continue to operate as a stand-alone business within Aptiv as part of the Advanced Safety & User Experience (AS&UX) segment.

“Wind River has established itself as a worldwide leader in cloud-native, intelligent edge software that delivers the highest levels of security, safety, reliability and performance,” said Kevin Dallas, president and chief executive officer of Wind River.

“Combining Wind River’s industry-leading software, customer base and talent with Aptiv’s complementary technologies, global resources and scale will realise our vision of the new machine economy. Together we will accelerate the digital transformation of our customers across industries through best-in-class intelligent systems software. We look forward to working with the Aptiv team to reach even greater heights and provide further growth opportunities for our customers and partners.”