Advanced Micro Devices has agreed to buy rival Californian chipmaker Xilinx in a $35bn all-stock transaction, taking the value of semiconductor dealmaking to more than $100bn in 2020 in a blockbuster year for the sector.
AMD’s deal, its largest acquisition to date, will boost its ambitions to become a data centre powerhouse and create a combined company with 13,000 engineers and more than $2.7bn in annual research and development spending.
It is the latest in a series of big-ticket deals in recent months, including Nvidia’s acquisition of Arm for $40bn, Analog Devices’ purchase of Maxim Integrated Products for about $20bn and SK Hynix’s takeover of Intel’s memory business for $9bn.