China's unabashed interest in foreign chipmakers in an already record year of deals has been quickly read by rivals as a sign that mergers and acquisitions (M&As) will get more competitive and target companies will get more expensive.

Integrated Device Technology (IDT) has announced an agreement to acquire privately held ZMDI (Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden) for total consideration of US$310 million in cash. The acquisition provides IDT with a highly regarded Automotive & Industrial business, and extends their technology leadership in high performance programmable power devices and timing & signal conditioning.

Toshiba on Friday said it is considering selling a minority stake in its semiconductor business to raise funds in the wake of a drawn-out accounting scandal.

SK said late Monday that it has decided to purchase OCI Materials, the world's top supplier of the specialty gas, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), to strengthen its memory chip business.

German chip maker Infineon Technologies has expressed interest in investing in Japanese semiconductor firm Renesas Electronics, and Renesas is examining that idea along with other strategic options, according to people familiar with the situation.

US chipmakers are cutting back "sharply" on spending, according to fresh analysis from Citigroup. Spending by semiconductor companies is expected to fall 19.8% this year from 2014, when it dropped a modest 0.9%.

UK-based chip vendor Dialog Semiconductor announced its proposed $4.6 billion acquisition of Atmel has cleared regulatory review in the US in Germany-even as an activist hedge fund opposed to the deal boosted its stake in Dialog in hopes of blocking the transaction.

So far this year, chip companies have announced $100.6 billion in mergers and acquisitions, according to Dealogic, exceeding the $37.7 billion total for all of 2014.

In May, at a San Francisco talk to mark the 50th anniversary of Moore's Law, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore said he was surprised chipmakers have kept it going for so long. Two months later, Intel Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich said on an earnings call that the pace is indeed slowing-doubling chip density now takes closer to two and a half years, rather than two.

Infineon Technologies, Germany's largest chipmaker, is the front-runner to acquire Fairchild Semiconductor International because it's willing to pay more for the company, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Samsung Electronic's earnings are heading in the right direction for the first time in nearly two years thanks to its semiconductor and display businesses.

PMC-Sierra said Microsemi's $2.35 billion takeover offer wasn't superior to a bid from Skyworks Solutions because the Skyworks deal "provides more value certainty to shareholders" than the Microsemi proposal, which was "nominally higher."

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter STMicroelectronics is considering a bid for Fairchild Semiconductor International as Europe's largest chipmaker seeks to boost growth and shore up its digital products business, according to people familiar with the matter.

Toshiba is in talks to sell its image sensor business to Sony for about Y20bn ($165m) in the latest effort by the lossmaking nuclear-to-semiconductor conglomerate to raise cash after a $1.9bn accounting scandal.

Texas Instruments' chief financial officer said Wednesday (Oct. 21) that the company doesn't have immediate plans to join the consolidation frenzy currently taking place in the semiconductor industry.

Intel's move comes as the chip industry undergoes a wave of consolidation and China steps up efforts to build local technology manufacturing capacity.

Cypress Semiconductor has withdrawn its offer for Atmel, the second failed attempt by the company to acquire a chipmaker this year.

VeriSilicon and Vivante have announced a definitive merger agreement under which the companies will be combined in an all-stock transaction. The combined company, to be called VeriSilicon, will offer robust IP-centric, platform-based custom silicon solutions and end-to-end semiconductor turnkey services.

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.

The new company will aim to commence operations on April 1, 2016.

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.

Toshiba Corp (6502.T) may lay off staff in its underperforming home appliances, TV and PC businesses and seek a partner for its nuclear operations to overhaul the company after a $1.3 billion accounting scandal, its chief executive said on Thursday.

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.

Despite a late start in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing's 16 nm FinFET process, TSMC appears to have captured up to a third of chip production for Apple's latest iPhones.

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.

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

Imagination Technologies, the British company that supplies graphics technology to Apple, forecast a surprise loss for its first half after the semiconductor market turned weaker in the June quarter.

Japan's stock exchange ordered Toshiba to pay a record fine of Y91.2m ($750,000) in the wake of a $2bn accounting scandal, marking another reputational blow to the lossmaking nuclear-to-semiconductor conglomerate.

Chipmaker Diodes said it would buy Pericom Semiconductor in a deal valued at about US$400 million to boost its analog and mixed-signal chip businesses.

The new members added to the council include Leopold Beer, regional president Asia Pacific for Bosch Sensortec, Genda Hu, CEO of FocalTech Systems, Young Sohn, president and chief strategic officer of Samsung Electronics, Howard Yang, chairman and CEO of Montage Technology, and Charlie Zhi, president and CEO of Brite Semiconductor.

While ASE and SPIL are still ahead of their Chinese competitor, with 34% and 21% market share respectively, China's aggressive push is worrying.

Qualcomm has announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Atheros, has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Ikanos Communications, a high performance broadband networking semiconductor and software provider enabling both central office and home gateway solutions.

Aabid Husain, who was vice president of worldwide business development and marketing at Globalfoundries based at its 200mm wafer fab campus in Singapore, has joined Cricket Semiconductor as chief marketing officer.

STMicroelectronics and its French state owner are headed for a collision over a strategy that includes possible job cuts at Europe's biggest semiconductor maker, according to people familiar with the matter.

Cricket Semiconductor, a company set up with the purpose of building and operating $1 billion analog and power semiconductor wafer fab in India has been in talks with state government of Telangana, according to a report in the New Indian Express.

The government is telling local companies and Chinese news media that it plans to invest as much as 1 trillion yuan ($161 billion) over 10 years to develop chips, about as much as Intel spends per decade on facilities and research and development.

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