Sequans bet on two versions of 4G wireless at once and sold chips for both. In 2011, carriers were still split between WiMAX and LTE, and nobody knew which would win. The Paris company already supplied 7 of the 10 largest WiMAX carriers in the world. It was also shipping LTE chips. Sequans filed to go public in the United States as one of the few independent 4G chip designers left outside the giants.

Juniper to the Banlieue

Georges Karam had run cable access at Juniper Networks before he founded Sequans in 2003 with Bertrand Debray. Their company was fabless: it designed chips and paid factories to make them. The founders bet that 4G would need new radio silicon, and that a small, focused team could design it faster than big companies. Their chips went into USB sticks, home routers, and early 4G devices. WiMAX had early backers such as Clearwire in the United States and UQ in Japan.

Ten Dollars, Then IoT

Sequans priced its IPO at $10 per American depositary share in April 2011 and listed on the NYSE as SQNS. LTE soon won, WiMAX faded, and big rivals took most phone business. Sequans moved toward low-power LTE chips for meters, trackers, and other connected devices. In 2023 Renesas launched a tender offer for the company, but the deal fell through. Sequans still trades on the NYSE as SQNS.

Cover: Four-Master and Two Three-Masters Anchored near a Fortified Island with a Lighthouse, from The Sailing Vessels, Franz Huys. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for ships at anchor by a lighthouse (a signal that guides).