Biggest Semiconductor Merger & Acquisitions of 2020

The impact of COVID-19 has hustled the Semiconductor Merger & Acquisitions. Last year, has been rapid though a dropping hand scenario was witnessed unlike 2018 where M&A were on a spree. The unforgettable IBM acquisition of Red Hat was all over the headlines whereas Infineon plans to acquire Cypress in 2019 topped the charts of leading M&A.  Though which semiconductor companies are shopping major and which companies are planning to fill up their karts is already interesting to watch in 2020. Eye on the biggest Semiconductor Merger & Acquisitions of 2020:

• Analog Devices – It’s aggressive approach to expand businesses in new verticals has made the American multinational semiconductor company a new hot-shot for M&A. Analog Devices started its shopping spree of acquiring other businesses from late 2019 with picking the Barcelona, Spain HQ – Test Motors. Not stopping there, Analog Devices further acquired HDMI Business from INVECAS. Finally, lately Analog Devices announced to acquire Maxim in an all-stock transaction that values the combined enterprise at over $68 billion. 

• Infineon Technologies – Starting from June 2019, Infineon had clear-eyes on the buyout of Cypress. Infineon initiated the acquisition news by stating to roll out an accelerated capital increase to raise 1.5 billion euros (US$1.68 billion) towards the cost of its planned acquisition of Cypress Semiconductor. Finally in April, 2020, the German semiconductor giant, Infineon announces that it has got approval to acquire Cypress. Beginning of June 2019, Infineon and Cypress announced that the companies had signed a definitive agreement under which Infineon would acquire Cypress.

• STMicroelectronics – In Q4 of 2019, STMicroelectronics announced the closing of the full acquisition of Swedish silicon carbide (SiC) wafer manufacturer Norstel AB (“Norstel”). ST exercised its option to acquire the remaining 45% stake, following the initial transaction announced in February 2019. Following this acquisition, STMicroelectronics, the French-Italian multinational electronics and semiconductor manufacturer announced the signing of two M&A agreements related to the acquisitions of the entire share capital of Ultra Wide Band specialist BeSpoon and of the cellular IoT connectivity assets of Riot Micro.

• Intel – The chip giant, Intel has been on the shore of upgrading its security features and has also revved up its NAMD by 1.8x. But Intel has lately made an interesting acquisition announcement where it has acquired an urban mobility application firm named Moovit, a mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) solutions company.

• NXP – Wrapping up 2019, NXP Semiconductors has announced the completion of the acquisition of the wireless connectivity assets from Marvell, pursuant to the terms of the previously announced agreement from May 2019.