Spreadtrum Communications has announced that its board of directors received a preliminary non-binding proposal from Tsinghua Unigroup, a state-owned company funded by Tsinghua University in China. Unigroup has proposed to buy Spreadtrum for US$28.50 in cash per ADR.

Spreadtrum added that Unigroup's proposal is being reviewed, and a decision has not been made.

Spreadtrum recently made an upward revision in its second-quarter 2013 guidance, citing strong demand coming from the low-cost smartphone sector.

Headquartered in Shanghai, Spreadtrum specialized in the design and development of IC solutions for use in mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

In other news, Spreadtrum's Taiwan-based rival MediaTek saw its shares fall 6.4% on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) on June 24.