Semiconductor industry U-Blox says goodbye to the stock exchange after almost 20 years
U-Blox shares will be traded on the Swiss stock exchange SIX for the last time today, Friday. The shares of the chip and semiconductor manufacturer were part of the stock exchange for almost 20 years, but will now disappear from the trading floor on May 18 following a takeover.
15.05.2026, 13:52
SDA
U-Blox was founded in 1997 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich. The founders Daniel Ammann, Jean-Pierre Wyss and Andreas Thiel, all graduates of the Polytechnic, developed the smallest modular GPS receiver on the market at the time. According to the company's history, one of its first projects was the Swiss toll system for trucks, which was equipped with the young company's technology.
In 2002, U-Blox attempted the leap from a small ETH spin-off to a global chip manufacturer. Instead of developing GPS modules based on third-party technology as before, the company began using its own GPS chips for the first time.
IPO in 2007
10 years after the company was founded, U-Blox ventured onto the Swiss stock exchange in 2007. The shares began trading on October 26 at an issue price of 51 Swiss francs. At that time, the company had 69 employees, 48 of whom were based in Switzerland. It also had branches in the USA, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The company grew massively in the following years. The price of U-Blox shares peaked in summer 2016, with the shares trading at around CHF 246 at one point. The last time the share price reached this level was in June 2018, when it exceeded CHF 200.
In the second half of 2018, however, U-Blox lost over 60% of its value. This was due to rumors of a planned takeover of competitor Telit and weak figures.
Record and deep fall
Driven by the component shortage during the coronavirus pandemic, U-Blox had a record year in 2022. Turnover rose to almost 624 million Swiss francs and profit reached almost 90 million. However, demand plummeted after the boom during the pandemic. At the same time, industrial customers reduced stocks previously built up during the crisis.
Sales fell significantly for the first time in 2023 and almost halved to around CHF 263 million in 2024. The loss-making cellular business, for which the company searched for a buyer for a long time, had a particularly negative impact. At the beginning of 2025, U-Blox finally decided to give up the division altogether and focus more strongly on positioning and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) technology.
At the same time, the company launched cost-saving programmes and cut jobs in order to stabilize profitability. Despite initial signs of recovery, operating performance has remained volatile of late, and the bottom line remains loss-making.
Takeover by Advent
In mid-August 2025, Zenith, a Luxembourg-based subsidiary of US private equity firm Advent, finally announced its intention to take over the company. Advent offered CHF 135 per share, which corresponded to a premium of around a third. The offer convinced the shareholders and the purchase was finally completed at the end of 2025.
In addition to the new owners, U-Blox also gained a new top management team. The previous CEO Stephan Zizala moved to the Board of Directors, while the previous CFO Camila Japur and co-founder Andreas Thiel took on the role of Co-CEOs.
As U-Blox was exempted from the disclosure requirements of SIX after the takeover was completed, there is no longer any detailed public information on operational development. It is therefore difficult to assess how the company is currently doing. It also remains to be seen what the future holds for U-Blox after its imminent delisting.
