Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have clinched no overseas takeover deals for the semiconductor business this year, in contract to their global peers who've been strongly engaged in the merger and acquisition (M&A) activities.

Skyworks Solutions has announced a definitive agreement under which Skyworks will acquire PMC for US$10.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately US$2 billion. This acquisition solidifies Skyworks' position as a highly diversified analog, RF and mixed signal semiconductor leader.

One day after an earnings call with investors, Micron Technology has acquired Tidal Systems for an undisclosed sum.

Synaptics, the maker of touch-screen technology used in phones, tablets and computers, rejected an offer from a state-backed Chinese investment group that valued the company at almost US$4 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

PMC, which is based in Santa Clara, California, is being pitched to other semiconductor companies, rather than private-equity firms.

Chinese interest in Synaptics and Western Digital shows Beijing is accelerating efforts to buy the building blocks for a domestic technology industry.

As to whether it makes sense it all depends on how much Abu Dhabi and Mubadala would demand in payment and what assurances of collaboration with Samsung could be obtained.

China's analog chipmaker Montage Technology has offered to buy Pericom Semiconductor in a deal valued at about US$430 million, trumping an offer from Diodes earlier this month.

Slowing smartphone and tablet demand growth and declining PC sales in the next 12 months are likely to drive further consolidation in the highly fragmented USD25bn IC outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) industry, Fitch Ratings says.

Dialog Semiconductor Plc fell the most in almost seven years in Frankfurt trading after agreeing to buy Atmel for about US$4.6 billion - more than its own market value - to expand into the automotive industry and everyday objects that are increasingly connected to the Internet.

CEC is discussing a bid for Atmel, a maker of chips used in industrial machinery and cars, at about US$8.50 a share and the two sides are negotiating, people with knowledge of the process said.

Freescale Semiconductor has announced the acquisition of CogniVue, an image cognition IP developer based in Ottawa, Canada.

Qualcomm, the world's largest maker of chips for mobile phones, won't sit on the sidelines as rivals get larger, according to its chief executive officer.

China's Tsinghua Holdings is still discussing a potential deal to buy US chipmaker Micron Technology and hopes it could eventually go through, the state-backed investment company's chairman told Reuters on Thursday.

"There are rumors all the time about us being acquired. But when you look at our business model... for any one company it's much less expensive for them to license our technology than to buy the whole company," said ARM CEO Simon Segars.

Micron Technology has told China's Tsinghua Unigroup that its US$23 billion acquisition offer is not realistic because US authorities would block the deal due to national security concerns, according to people familiar with the matter.

Oculus, the virtual-reality headset maker that Facebook bought last year, said Pebbles "will be joining the hardware engineering and computer vision teams at Oculus to help advance virtual reality, tracking, and human-computer interactions."

Sales of PCs that used Micron's memory chips dropped faster than the company expected in 2015 triggering a 50% stock plunge. That drop helped set the stage for Micron, which is known for buying other companies' chip operations, to become a target.

Tsinghua Unigroup Chairman Zhao Weiguo signaled the company is interested in Micron Technology after the Wall Street Journal reported the Chinese company made a US$23 billion bid for the US semiconductor maker.

Microsoft also announced the reduction of up to 7,800 positions, primarily in the phone business.

Shares of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are up 7 cents, or 3%, at $2.41, after PC and gaming gear enthusiast site KitGuru this afternoon said the company is attracting buyout interest from Microsoft.

Xilinx CEO Moshe Gavrielov is trying to take advantage of increased interest in his company since Intel said it would acquire his main rival in the programmable logic-chip market for US$16.7 billion.

Pantech, which has been in court receivership since August last year, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Seoul Central District Court's approval for a possible merger and acquisition with a consortium led by South Korean optical disc drive (ODD) manufacturer Optis on June 16.

The bidding war for Integrated Silicon Solution (ISSI) intensified with rival chipmaker Cypress Semiconductor further sweetening its offer to US$22.60 per share.

Applied Micro Circuits recently appointed hedge fund manager Christopher Zepf as one of its board of directors, which has led many to believe that perhaps the company might soon present itself for sale.

The proximate source of a lot of this pressure is China, say SouthBay Economics' Andrew Zatlin. Semiconductors are suffering a fallout stemming from China's slowing economy just like other commodities have.

Intel's CEO, Brian Krzanich, made his commitment to wearable technology very clear shortly after assuming his current role in 2013.

Chip makers are feeling pressures to find new sales, including by merging with rivals, amid declines in some businesses such as personal computers and rising expectations for margin growth.

Cypress Semiconductor's latest acquisition ambitions have been stopped due to anti-trust concerns.

Synopsys has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Atrenta, a privately held provider of SoC realization solutions for the semiconductor and consumer electronics industries.

Altera has been a key customer at TSMC for years, especially at the advanced tech node, accounting for around 3% of TSMC's revenue at 20/28 nodes.

Chip maker Avago Technologies is in advanced talks to buy rival Broadcom in a deal worth about US$35 billion, the latest in a wave of takeovers for the companies that supply parts to power smartphones, tablets and other gadgets.

The deal brings together HP with the investment arm of China's Tsinghua University in a joint venture called H3C, worth $4.5bn.

Tsinghua Unigroup is in talks to buy a controlling stake in Hewlett-Packard's China data-networking operations. Discussions are still taking place over the 51% stake in HP subsidiary, H3C Technologies.

Cadian Capital Management and TIG Advisors are among Altera shareholders that have sent letters to the company's management, urging them to return to the negotiating table with Intel, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Singapore's Flextronics International is in advanced talks to buy part of the Chinese business of Alcatel-Lucent, the French telecoms firm currently being taken over by Nokia, two people told Reuters.

Nokia says it has agreed to buy smaller French rival Alcatel-Lucent in a 15.6 billion euro takeover deal.

Some US and European chipmakers, such as Intel, could benefit from China's push to build up its semiconductor industry into a global power, said Jefferies in a new research report.

The volumes of the FPGA market are tiny by comparison to Intel's computer markets. Some have questioned a deal that would require spending as much as $13 billion to acquire just less than $2 billion in annual revenues.