Dive Brief:
- M&A activity among semiconductor businesses is on record pace so far this year, the Wall Street Journal reported.
- According to Dealogic, chip companies have announced $100.6 billion in mergers and acquisitions so far in 2015.
- That significantly exceeds the $37.7 billion total for all of 2014.
Dive Insight:
So far this year, 276 deals have been announced, including Avago Technologies’ record $37 billion purchase of Broadcom in May.
And there may be more to come. Last week, Bloomberg reported that four chip companies -- Analog Devices Inc., Maxim Integrated Products Inc., SanDisk and Fairchild Semiconductor -- are discussing potential deals.
“It’s buy or be sold,” said Alex Lidow, chief executive of Efficient Power Conversion Corp.
As margins tighten and the PC industry continues to shrink, semiconductor makers look to streamline their organizations and product lines.
Gartner recently predicted that world-wide semiconductor revenue would decline 0.8% this year, the first dip since 2012.
