Texas Instruments announced the sale of its Sensors unit to Bain Capital for $3.0 Billion, but retained its RFID unit.

RFID Update has an insightful interview outlining the reasons behind TI's move to keep the RFID unit. One of the reasons: RFID has high growth potential, while the sensors unit did not.

Here is the most interesting part of the RFID Update interview with Julie England of Texas Instruments:

"Texas instruments' RFID division had revenues of roughly $110 million in 2005, and it was profitable (the company didn't disclose how profitable). Like most firms in the industry, the adoption of RFID in 2005 didn't meet heightened expectations. England said that she 'judged down' the optimism coming from analysts during the hype peak and still ended up overestimating near-term demand. That said, she remains confident about the long-term potential: 'We feel like the RFID market is growing and will keep growing in 2006, and we want to be a major player.' "