Since its invention, semiconductor technology has been widely used in various industries. It has been developed for more than two hundred years. During this period, many of the world's leading semiconductor companies were born, represented by Intel, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Google, etc. In recent years, Competition among upstream companies has intensified, and industry mergers and acquisitions have appeared frequently. From the beginning of last year's farce of Broadcom's proposed acquisition of Qualcomm, it seems that the industry has been infected with a 'common problem' of 'mergers and acquisitions'. In the 2018s, the semiconductor industry has also experienced seven major impacts. M&A case (time as of July 23, 2018).
First, Wentai Technology acquired Anshi Semiconductor
In April of this year, Wingtech announced that it has completed the acquisition of Anshi Semiconductor, with a turnover of approximately 11.435 billion yuan. Wentai Technology is an ecological platform for China's mobile terminal and intelligent hardware industry, covering mobile terminals, intelligent hardware, and notebook computers. R&D, design and intelligent manufacturing of IoT in virtual reality, car networking, automotive electronics, etc.; Ansemi is a world-class manufacturer of standard products, focusing on the logic, discrete devices and MOSFET markets.
As the leading enterprise of domestic mobile phone ODM, Wentai Technology's acquisition has set a benchmark for domestic semiconductor companies. It is a merger of domestic semiconductor downstream enterprises to internationally renowned semiconductor upstream enterprises. On the one hand, it can expand the industrial chain of Wentai Technology. On the other hand, it provides more support for enterprises to increase their voice and strength in the industry.
Second, Ali wholly-owned acquisition of Zhongtianwei
As an Internet-based company, Alibaba's investment layout has been quite large in recent years. Semiconductors are also a key industry. Recently, Ali has acquired Zhongtianwei. The industry said that this is a key step for Alibaba to enter artificial intelligence. Chess. Zhongtianwei is an integrated circuit design company engaged in the development and industrialization of 32-bit high-performance low-power embedded CPUs. It is a CPU supplier that develops embedded CPUs based on autonomous instruction architecture in China and achieves mass production. Previously, its global shipments exceeded 700 million chips, and its strength is not high.
Artificial intelligence is a promising industry, but it is also a very challenging science. The threshold for entry is quite high. Standing on the AI turmoil, Alibaba is also optimistic about it, capital and users are its advantages, through the acquisition of Zhongtianwei Declaring war artificial intelligence is a good choice. Before BAT, Baidu, Tencent has already established AI Lab, and Alibaba's pace is relatively slow, but this acquisition has made it already in the game, and the future artificial intelligence industry will inevitably compete in these three competitions.
Third, North Huachuang acquired Akrion Systems LLC
At the beginning of this year, North Huachuang announced that it has completed the acquisition of Akrion Systems LLC with a transaction amount of US$15 million. North Huachuang is a leading company in the domestic high-end integrated circuit equipment, with semiconductor equipment, vacuum equipment, new energy lithium battery equipment and The four business groups of precision components provide a comprehensive range of solutions for semiconductors, new energy, new materials, etc. The Akrion system is a leading supplier of advanced surface preparation systems for the manufacture of solar, semiconductor and related equipment.
This acquisition has made North Huachuang's industrial layout more comprehensive, from the downstream to the upstream. With the opportunity of new energy vehicles, industrial manufacturing upgrades, etc., the opportunities left for North China Huachuang will be more. The acquisition of Akrion In addition to improving strength and voice, a more important significance is that Huachuang will enter the world stage as an electronic equipment and semiconductor device, and enter the international market.
Fourth, Marvell Technology acquires Cavium
Recently, Marvell Technology announced the completion of the acquisition of Cavium, the company will focus on the semiconductor infrastructure market, involving an amount of about 6 billion US dollars. Marvell was established in 1995, is a global leader in providing a full range of broadband communications and storage solutions. Vendor, primarily engaged in the design and development of mixed-signal and digital signal processing ICs. Cavium is the world's leading provider of multi-core MIPS and ARM processors with a wide range of processors for networking/communication, wireless, storage and control applications. Security products. Cavium and arvell are very similar, the merger of the two can be described as a strong alliance, the new company's strength to a higher level.
In recent years, competition in the semiconductor market such as storage and wireless has intensified. Many upstream companies have suffered serious losses. According to Marvell's financial report, in the fourth quarter of 2017, its main business GAAP net loss was $77 million, and last quarter was a profit of $77.45 million. Marvell A well-known company in the upstream of semiconductors, through the acquisition of competitor Cavium, has greatly increased its strength and enhanced the influence of the industry. The future is of great significance for the company to build a more comprehensive ecosystem.
V. Microchip Semiconductor acquires Gaosenmei Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
Recently, Microchip Semiconductor has completed the acquisition of Gaosenmei Semiconductor Co., Ltd. It is reported that the acquisition amount is approximately US$8.35 billion. As a chip giant, Microcore Technology previously acquired its peer Atmel for US$3.6 billion, this acquisition of Gaosenmei, on the one hand. Let yourself reduce one enemy, on the other hand, improve your own strength.
Microchip Semiconductor is the world's leading supplier of integrated microcontrollers, mixed-signal, analog devices and flash memory patent solutions, while GA Semiconductor provides comprehensive semiconductor products and system solutions for aerospace and defense, communications, data centers and industrial applications. The solution, the combination of the two has fully expanded their service areas in the semiconductor industry and enhanced the industry's influence.
Sixth, Broadcom acquired US$18.9 billion
In the past year, Broadcom has been completely fired. Through the “hostile takeover” of Qualcomm, everyone has continued to pay attention. This year, Broadcom and CA reached an agreement to acquire software company CA for US$18.9 billion. It is the world's leading wired and wireless. Communications Semiconductor, Inc., whose products enable voice, data and multimedia in home, office and mobile environments; CA is one of the world's largest IT management software companies, focusing on enterprise integration and simplifying IT management, the company Founded in 1976, it serves customers in more than 140 countries around the world.
Broadcom is out of control on the road to acquisition, especially those with 'key core technology'. CA and Broadcom are both competitors and partners. In terms of enterprise management software, CA products are very competitive. As a chip manufacturer, Broadcom has expanded its product line and hardware-to-software to its own ambitions. However, in the face of huge business layout, in addition to the profitability of the new company to be verified, The running-in between managers will also be a big problem.
Seven, Xilinx acquired Shenjian Technology
Recently, the circle of friends was acquired by Xilinx, and many of them felt that the dream of 'domestic core' was once again shattered! Xilinx is the world's leading supplier of complete programmable logic solutions, mainly developed and manufactured. Advanced integrated circuits, software design tools, and IP cores as pre-defined system-level features. Shenjian Technology has a good background. Its core team comes from Tsinghua University and Stanford University, focusing on the next-generation deep learning platform, neural network processing. , compiler original technology.
Shen Jian Technology and Xilinx were partners before. The Aristotle architecture and the Cartesian DPU products introduced by Shen Jian Technology are based on the Xilinx FPGA platform. The acquisition of Shen Jian Technology also Let Xilinx have a greater say in artificial intelligence chips, and compete with Intel, NVIDIA and other companies for a future chip.
Summary: The profit model of the semiconductor industry is a typical pyramid structure. The upstream companies have more core technologies and resources, and they also enjoy more lucrative profits. However, the industry competition is also cruel, which is the root of many enterprises. Taking chips as an example, it is difficult for small and medium-sized startups to form a threat to European and American giants. In the end, it is difficult to change the fate of being acquired by giants. Recently, Shenjian Technology’s acquisition by Xilinx illustrates this. The chip industry involves the core. The architecture, technology, systems and other technologies, the localization process is not a day's work, most of the global chips are based on Intel, AMD, ARM and other architectures, want to make a breakthrough in this industry, domestic companies have a long time The road is going.