Chip megadeals have become daunting, with governments looking at transactions suspiciously, though AMD can breathe a sigh of relief: the path to acquire FPGA giant Xilinx is now clearer.

The National Anti-Monopoly Policy Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People's Republic of China has approved the $35bn all-stock takeover that was [1]announced in October 2020, according to an 8-K filing

[2]PDF

by AMD with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

In late December, AMD said [3]it had to delay closing the deal as China's regulators were still reviewing the proposal. The US and EU have already approved the acquisition; AMD now expects the merger to close in the first quarter of 2022 thanks to the Middle Kingdom's approval.

[4]

Chip deals are increasingly being tied to geopolitics, with semiconductors wedged in a battle between nations to get ahead on technology. China in 2018 did not approve Qualcomm's $44bn acquisition of NXP, which killed the deal. That takeover's cancellation was seen as retaliation by China for Uncle Sam targeting Chinese companies including Huawei and ZTE.

[5]

Governments seem unified in opposing Nvidia's $40bn buyout of Arm. Nvidia is seemingly prepared to [6]walk away from the deal, with watchdogs concerned about the buyout stifling competition, and also interested in the implications on national security.

[7]Party on Semiconductor Street as worldwide 2021 revenues top record half a trillion dollars

[8]AMD returns to smartphone graphics with new Samsung chip for your pocket computer

[9]AMD claims up to 24 hours of laptop battery life with its latest Ryzen 6000 silicon

[10]Rocketing chip sales growth to ease off this year, reach $680bn, say analysts

Chip merger and acquisition activity dried up last year after reaching record highs in 2020. Semiconductor acquisitions totaled $117bn in 2020, but was only $22bn through the first eight months of 2021, [11]according to IC Insights.

AMD will boost its chip offerings for data centers and network edge applications with Xilinx, which designs FPGAs. Intel bought FPGA slinger Altera for $16.7bn in 2015, and that deal now seems like a discount.

FPGAs are valued in the build-out of networks and 5G infrastructure. The open-slate and easy software upgradability of FPGAs makes them valuable at the network edge. FPGAs are also used for artificial intelligence and embedded electronics. ®

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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/27/amd_xilinx_results/

[2] https://ir.amd.com/sec-filings/content/0000002488-22-000009/0000002488-22-000009.pdf

[3] https://ir.amd.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1037/amd-and-xilinx-provide-update-regarding-expected-timing-of

[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YfMkGLz9mBvSe8o5x7aKvgAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YfMkGLz9mBvSe8o5x7aKvgAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/25/nvidia_arm_abandon_report/

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/19/gartner_semiconductor/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/18/amd_samsung_graphics/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/04/amd_ryzen_ces/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/10/chip_growth_this_year/

[11] https://www.icinsights.com/news/bulletins/Chip-MA-Deals-Reach-22-Billion-In-First-Eight-Months-Of-2021/

[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/