US chip firm Sigma Designs is “considering its strategic alternatives” with the help of Deutsche Bank, usually a coded expression for putting all of part of itself up for sale. Sigma is one of the few chip vendors still providing system-on-chip products for set-tops and smart TVs, but of late it has been expanding in IoT devices on the back of its low power Z-Wave technology – a direct competitor to the more globally accepted ZigBee and Bluetooth technologies. It is primarily a design firm which also makes specialized ASIC chips. It promised that fiscal 2018 would be a transition year as it focused on IoT, and achieved LTE network certification for its Mobile IoT. It has also promised a…