National Semiconductor, the Santa Clara chip-maker that sees growth potential in quality-of-life products that improve health care and encourage greener energy, said Thursday it had acquired Act Solar.

National Semi has a technology it calls Solar Magic. It improves the efficiency of solar panels that lose power when they're shaded, covered with debris or get old. It goes into production later this year.

Act Solar, also based in Santa Clara, sells something called PowerString, which also improves solar efficiency by six to 11 percent by re-circulating small amounts of energy. Cumulatively, the company said, its technology will result in solar panels that produce 40 to 80 percent more energy over their 20 to 40 year lifespan.

In February, Act Solar announced a deal to sell 8 megawatts worth of PowerString to Pacific Power Management, a solar company that engineers and installs solar arrays.

"With Act Solar we can further improve the performance and efficiency of solar systems, at the same time providing monitoring capabilities not available before," Mike Polacek, National Semi's senior VP of key market segments, said in a statement.

No financial terms of the deal were announced. Act Solar is privately held. National Semiconductor had sales of $1.9 billion in its most recent fiscal year.

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