Eight multibillion dollar mergers announced within two years
Automation is expected to bring big productivity gains to the U.S. economy, but it is also likely to eliminate quality jobs as machines take on more of the work done by humans. The industry driving automation is already losing jobs, but it’s not because robots are replacing humans. The global semiconductor industry is shedding jobs as multibillion dollar companies merge and eliminate redundant positions in the face of declining profitability.
Qualcomm and Intel have both announced significant layoffs within the past 18 months, but the two companies may have been ahead of the curve. Having cut costs and clarified strategies, both Qualcomm and Intel emerged as buyers rather than targets as the chip industry went through major consolidation. Below is a list of some of the biggest chip deals of 2015 and 2016.
1. Qualcomm’s planned $39 billion purchase of NXP Semiconductor.
2. Avago’s $37 billion purchase of Broadcom, completed in February 2016. (The merged company took the Broadcom name.)
3. SoftBank’s $31 billion purchase of ARM Holdings, completed in September 2016.
4. Intel’s $16.7 billion purchase of Altera, completed in December 2015.
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5. NXP’s acquisition of Freescale for just under $12 billion, completed in December 2015. Freescale will now become part of Qualcomm when the Qualcomm/NXP deal closes.
6. Microchip’s roughly $3.6 billion purchase of Atmel, completed in April 2016 as a significant number of Atmel employees lost their jobs.
7. Microsemi’s roughly $2.5 billion acquisition of PMC-Sierra, completed in January 2016.
8. Qualcomm’s $2.4 billion acquisition of CSR, completed in August 2015.
Much has been written about margin pressure, consolidation and layoffs in the semiconductor industry, but several of the companies that have grown through acquisition are healthy and may look next at acquisitions outside the semiconductor industry. Late last year, Broadcom said it plans to pay $5.5 billion for software and network equipment maker Brocade.
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