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Business News 2019
  • December 17th, 2019
  • Intel Corpoartion announced that it has acquired Israel-based programmable chipmaker Habana Labs for approximately $2 billion.
    Habana Labs is known as a developer of programmable deep learning accelerators for data centers.
  • December 14th, 2019
  • Apple Inc. confirmed that it recently acquired control of U.K. startup Spectral Edge Ltd., a developer of AI-based photo processing software.
    Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
  • December 3rd, 2019
  • Yesterday CAP-XX announced it will acquire CAP-XX licensee Murata's supercapacitor production lines, relocate them from Japan to a new factory in Sydney to arrive in stages between March and June 2020, and begin producing Murata's three supercapacitor product families in Q3 2020. Murata will also assist in introducing CAP-XX to its customers.
    Murata licensed CAP-XX's patents in 2008, began production of supercapacitors in Japan in 2013, and has since significantly built its supercapacitor business. After a strategic review of its business in 2018, Murata informed CAP-XX that it wanted to focus on its multilayer ceramic capacitors and lithium batteries, and exit some of its non-core business lines including supercapacitors. Consequently, the two companies reached agreement for CAP-XX to acquire Murata's high-quality production lines.
  • November 12th, 2019
  • Taiwan-based Yageo and US-based Kemet Electronics Corporation have announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Yageo will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Kemet's common stock for US$27.20 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at US$1.8 billion, including the assumption of net debt. They said the transaction has been approved by their respective boards of directors.
    The purchase price represents a premium of 26% to Kemet's volume weighted average price ("VWAP") for the last 30 trading days and 37% to its VWAP for the last 90 trading days, according to the annoucemen
  • November 6th, 2019
  • On October 29th, Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) announced the acquisition of Test Motors, a company specializing in predictive maintenance of electric motors and generators. Based in Barcelona, Spain, Test Motors offers products and services that detect faults in electric motors before they cause damage to production cycles and advises on how and when to repair them.
    The Test Motors team will join ADI's Automation and Energy Group and operate as a key technology group.
    Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
  • October 10th, 2019
  • On October 7th, Qorvo® announced that it has acquired Cavendish Kinetics, Inc., a provider of high-performance RF MEMS technology for antenna tuning applications. The Cavendish Kinetics (CK) team will continue to advance RF MEMS technology for applications across Qorvo's product lines and transition the technology into high-volume manufacturing for mobile devices and other markets.
    Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
  • October 9th, 2019
  • On October 7th, Dialog Semiconductor plc announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Creative Chips GmbH, a supplier of Integrated Circuits (ICs) to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market.
    Creative Chips is expected to generate revenues of approximately $20 million in calendar year 2019 with revenue growth of over 25% per annum anticipated over the next few years. The acquisition will be funded from Dialog's balance sheet for a cash payment of approximately $80 million, with an additional contingent consideration of up to $23 million, based on future revenue targets in 2020 and 2021.
  • September 25th, 2019
  • On September 23rd, Measurement Specialties Inc., a subsidiary of TE Connectivity Ltd. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Silicon Microstructures Inc. [SMI] from Elmos Semiconductor AG.
    Elmos acquired Silicon Microstructures in 2001. The sale of Silicon Microstructures marks the discontinuation of Elmos Group's micromechanics division. Elmos will instead focus on its core semiconductor business.
    Silicon Microstructures will become part of sensor manufacturer Measurement Specialties (Berwyn, Pennsylvania), itself acquired by TE Connectivity in 2014.
    The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2019.
    Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
  • September 6th, 2019
  • Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation, which will rebrand as Kioxia Holdings Corporation on October 1, 2019, announced on August 30th that it has signed a definitive agreement with LITE-ON Technology Corporation to acquire its Solid State Drive (SSD) business. The purchase price is 165 million US dollars; the transaction is expected to close by the first half of 2020 and is subject to customary closing adjustments and regulatory approval.
  • August 9th, 2019
  • On August 8th, Diodes Incorporated and Lite-On Semiconductor Corporation (LSC) announced the companies have entered into an agreement that provides for the acquisition of LSC by Diodes.
    At the effective date of the transaction, each share of LSC stock will be converted into the right to receive TWD 42.50 in cash, or $1.37 USD, as of June 30, 2019 without interest. The aggregate consideration will be approximately $428 million. The price per share reflects a premium of 35% over LSC's 30-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP). The boards of both companies have approved the transaction, which is still subject to approval by LSC shareholders as well as other customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in April, 2020.
  • August 1st, 2019
  • On July 31st, Intel Corporation announced that Apple Inc. bought the majority of Intel's modem business for $1 billion, including technology related to the development of the 5G modems required for devices to connect to the new networks.
    Intel said that it still has the option to develop 5G chips for non-smartphone products.
  • July 16th, 2019
  • Bourns, Inc. today announced that a member of the Bourns group of companies has acquired all shares of KEKO-Varicon d.o.o. Žužambrek (KEKO-Varicon) from its three shareholders, consisting of two members of the MSIN Group and one minority shareholder.
    KEKO-Varicon is a manufacturer of overvoltage protection products that include varistor and EMI suppression products.
    Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
  • July 12th, 2019
  • On July 9th, 2019, Cisco Systems Inc. and Acacia Communications Inc. announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Cisco has agreed to acquire Acacia.
    As an existing Cisco supplier, Acacia designs and manufactures high-speed, optical interconnect technologies that allow webscale companies, service providers, and data center operators to meet the fast-growing consumer demands for data.
    Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco has agreed to acquire Acacia for $70.00 per share in cash, or for approximately $2.6 billion on a fully diluted basis, net of cash and marketable securities. As Cisco and Acacia come together, Cisco plans to support Acacia's existing customers and new customers that want industry-leading coherent optics, digital signal processing / photonic integrated circuit modules, and transceivers for use in networking products and data centers.
  • July 5th, 2019
  • Xilinx Inc. announced the acquisition of NGCodec Inc., a specialist in low-latency cloud video encoding which uses FPGA acceleration to provide low-bitrate and high-quality live streams.
    Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  • June 12th, 2019
  • On June 10th, 2019, Intel Corporation has signed an agreement to acquire Barefoot Networks. Inc. based in Santa Clara, California.
    Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  • June 12th, 2019
  • On June 10th, 2019, Raytheon Co. and United Technologies Corp. announced that they are merging in an all-stock deal that the two companies say is a merger of equals. The new company's name will be Raytheon Technologies Corp.
  • June 4th, 2019
  • On June 3rd, 2019, Infineon Technologies AG and Cypress Semiconductor Corporation announced that the companies have signed a definitive agreement under which Infineon will acquire Cypress for US$23.85 per share in cash, corresponding to an enterprise value of €9.0 billion.
  • June 4th, 2019
  • On May 29th, 2019, Kyocera Corporation announced that its Germany-based European headquarters, Kyocera Fineceramics GmbH will acquire the advanced ceramics business operations of Friatec GmbH, a manufacturer and seller of ceramic and plastic components based in Mannheim, Germany through a newly established subsidiary.
    The operations will be transferred to the subsidiary Kyocera Fineceramics Solutions GmbH in autumn 2019.
    Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  • May 30th, 2019
  • On May 29th, 2019, NXP Semiconductors N.V. announced that NXP's Industrial & IoT, Automotive and Communication unit has entered into a definitive agreement with Marvell Technology Group Ltd. under which NXP will acquire Marvell's Wireless Connectivity portfolio in an all-cash, asset transaction valued at $1.76 billion.
  • May 22nd, 2019
  • On May 21st, 2019, Innovative Logic, Inc. announced the acquisition of its USB IP by SiFive Inc. As part of the deal, SiFive has hired the majority of Innovative Logic's employees in Bengaluru, India.
    Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  • May 21st, 2019
  • On May 20th, 2019, Marvell announced it has entered into definitive agreements to purchase Avera Semiconductor, the Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) business of GLOBALFOUNDRIES.
    Under the terms of the agreement, Marvell will pay GLOBALFOUNDRIES $650 million in cash at closing plus an additional $90 million in cash if certain business conditions are satisfied within the next 15 months. The transaction is expected to close by the end of Marvell's fiscal year 2020 pending receipt of regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
    The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Marvell's non-GAAP earnings per share in the first full year following the close.
  • April 30th, 2019
  • On April 24th, 2019, Xilinx, Inc. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Solarflare Communications, Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based privately-held company. Solarflare is a provider of high-performance, low latency networking solutions for customers spanning FinTech to cloud computing. The acquisition will enable Xilinx to combine its industry-leading FPGA, MPSoC and ACAP solutions with Solarflare's ultra-low latency network interface card (NIC) technology and Onload application acceleration software, to enable new converged SmartNIC solutions, accelerating Xilinx's "data center first" strategy and transition to a platform company.
    The acquisition is expected to close in Xilinx's second quarter of fiscal year 2020, following regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.
    Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  • April 16th, 2019
  • Intel Corporation today announced the acquisition of Omnitek, a leading provider of optimized video and vision FPGA IP solutions. Omnitek's technology enables customized, high-performance vision and artificial intelligence inferencing capabilities on FPGAs for customers across a range of end markets. Omnitek's IP addresses demanding application requirements in areas such as: video conferencing, projection and display, medical vision systems and more.
    The employees and rest of the Omnitek business will become a part of Intel's FPGA business.
    Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  • April 15th, 2019
  • Qorvo®, Inc., a provider of RF solutions, announced on April 10th that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Active-Semi International, Inc., a private fabless supplier of programmable analog power solutions.
    Active-Semi will become part of Qorvo's Infrastructure and Defense Products (IDP) group. Active-Semi's technologies are positioned to intersect multiple long-term secular trends in 5G, industrial, data center, automotive and smart home by addressing the increased demand for efficient power solutions.
    Qorvo expects the acquisition to be accretive to non-GAAP gross margin and non-GAAP EPS in the first year. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Qorvo's first fiscal quarter, ending June 29, 2019. Qorvo will provide additional details about the Active-Semi transaction during its fiscal 2019 fourth quarter earnings conference call, scheduled for May 7, 2019.
  • February 7th, 2019
  • STMicroelectronics of Geneva, Switzerland has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Norstel AB of Norrkoping, Sweden, which was spun off from Linköping University in 2005 and develops and manufactures 150mm silicon carbide (SiC) bare and epitaxial wafers. ST says that, after closing, it will control the entire supply chain for a portion of its SiC devices at a time of constrained global capacity and position itself for a significant growth opportunity.
    ST will acquire 55% of Norstel's share capital, with an option to acquire the remaining 45% subject to certain conditions, which, if exercised, will result in total consideration of $137.5m, funded with available cash.
  • February 6th, 2019
  • On February 4th Maxwell Technologies, Inc. announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Tesla, Inc. Tesla will commence an all stock exchange offer for all the issued and outstanding shares of the Company, after which the Company will be merged with a Tesla subsidiary and become a wholly owned subsidiary of Tesla.
  • February 5th, 2019
  • On February 4th Kyocera Corporation announced that its Germany-based European headquarters, Kyocera Fineceramics GmbH has concluded an agreement with H.C. Starck GmbH to acquire 100% of the shares of its subsidiary H.C. Starck Ceramics GmbH, a European advanced ceramics manufacturing and sales company based in Selb, Germany. H.C. Starck Ceramics will join Kyocera Group and begin operations in spring 2019, subject to regulatory approval.