Seven major semiconductor acquisition agreements valued at $1 billion or more increase the total value of all deals by 22% from the previous year, continuing the strong wave of M&A and consolidation among chip suppliers.
Semiconductor merger and acquisition activity strengthened in 2019 after pulling back in the two previous years from historic high levels of M&A agreements in 2015 and 2016. More than 30 semiconductor acquisition agreements in 2019 had a combined value of $31.7 billion, which was a 22% increase from $25.9 billion in 2018, according to data compiled by IC Insights in its new 2020 edition of The McClean Report—A Complete Analysis and Forecast of the Integrated Circuit Industry. The 2019 value of semiconductor acquisition agreements reached the third-highest annual total ever, but the year was still far behind 2015 and 2016 (Figure 1).
Figure 1
