Sigma Designs is set to buy CopperGate Communications, as it continues on a path to create a silicon powerhouse in the home networking space.

Sigma Designs is spending a combination of cash (about $92 million) and stock totaling about $160 million to buy CopperGate, one of the chip vendors helping to get the new G.hn standard defined, ratified and commercialized.

Last December, Sigma Designs bought Zensys, the company that developed the Z-Wave standard, aimed at connecting household appliances and home control systems.

CopperGate, which began by specializing in chips for HomePNA, has become a key backer of G.hn, which aims to bridge the major home networking protocols for all wireline media (coaxial, phone line and powerline).

G.hn is on the brink of being fully ratified, and several chip companies, including CopperGate, are in the process of translating their G.hn chip designs into silicon.