China 2015 - 2016 Semiconductor Mergers, Acquisitions

Since 2015 there has been an accelerating trend of consolidation of semiconductor and semiconductor equipment companies. 

The trend is due to

1. The increasing cost of developing the next generation of semiconductor chips (see Feb 2013 blog SemiconductorMoore's Law Running out of Money )

2. Reduced growth rate of the semiconductor industry.

3. China’s increasing effort  to gain a strong presence in the semiconductor industry (see June 2012 blog Statusof China's Fabless Model and January 2015 Chinese$80 Billion Fabless IC )

The table below summarizes the key mergers and acquisitions of semiconductor companies announced since 2015. Before 2015 there was typically about one merger each year. 

In 2016 China will continue to get semiconductor presence by maybe buying portion of semiconductor companies such as Micron or Maxim directly or through a joint venture (see China Increasing IC Power )

So far, the mergers and acquisitions directly impacts wafer fabs capacity only for Altera that was bought by Intel. It is likely that China will try to increase its fabrication capacity.

Most of these deals have not yet gotten regulatory approval and could be cancelled before the deal closes. I will attempt to update the table as these transactions proceed.

NXP/Freescale	March 2015	$ 12 Billion	NXP to buy Freescale, create $40 billion company
Cypress Semiconductor/ Spansion	March 2015	$ 5 Billion	Cypress and Spansion merge in $5B deal
NXP RF/ Jianguang Asset Management	May 2015	$ 1.8 Billion	Why NXP is selling its RF power business for $1.8 billion
Avago/Broadcom	May 2015	$ 36.7 Billion	Avago Agrees to Buy Broadcom for $37 Billion
Intel/ Altera	June 2015	$16.7 Billion	Intel Agrees to Buy Altera for $16.7 Billion
Microchip/ Micrel	August 2015	$0.8 Billion	Microchip Technology Completes Acquisition of Micrel
LAM/ KLA-Tencor	October 2015	$10.6 Billion	Lam to Buy KLA-Tencor in $10.6 Billion Chip Machinery Deal
Western Digital/ SanDisk	October 2015	$19 Billion	Western Digital to buy SanDisk in $19 billion deal ,
Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, ? /Maxim	October 2015	$9+ Billion Market Cap	Texas Instruments Said in Talks to Acquire Maxim Integrated
Microsemi/ PMC-Sierra	November 2015	$2.5 Billion	Microsemi to Buy PMC-Sierra In Deal Valued at About $2.5 Billion
On Semiconductor or China Resources  / Fairchild Semiconductor	December 2015	$2.5 Billion	China Resources challenges ON Semiconductor with Fairchild bid
Dialog/ Microchip Technology / Atmel	January 2016	$3.6 Billion	Microchip Technology to Buy Atmel for Nearly $3.6 Billion

Ron
Insightful, timely, and accurate semiconductor consulting.
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