Industry Expert Blogs
Semiconductor M&A?-February 25, 2011 |
Last week a friend of mine was giddy with joy as he exclaimed, “Semi M&A is back!”
It seems Qualcomm’s acquisition of Atheros and Intel’s acquisition of Silicon Hive somehow changed the chemical makeup of his brain, transforming him from an eternal semiconductor market pessimist to a born-again optimist.
Being someone who lives and dies by data, my initial response was, “Let’s see the data.”
And yesterday that data arrived: The Global Semiconductor Alliance’s “Jan 2011 Global Semiconductor Funding, IPO and M&A Update” entered my Outlook inbox and I’ve had some time to chew on it.
Bottom line: Carry on. There’s nothing here to be excited about.
The number of semiconductor M&A deals was 33% higher between February 2010 and January 2011 than the previous 12 months. However, that’s not saying much after a dismal 2009 where M&A deals dropped 30% from 2008.