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As the market destocking is completed, the semiconductor industry will gradually recover in 2024 and will be at the starting point of a new cycle. As a result, the M&A market in the industry will also show new trends. The semiconductor industry itself has the attributes of integration and mergers and acquisitions. Judging from the development history of foreign giants, many semiconductor companies have experienced a large number of mergers and acquisitions before becoming leading companies. From a domestic perspective, policy support for mergers and acquisitions is increasing. In June this year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the "Eight Articles on the Science and Technology Innovation Board", proposing to support mergers and acquisitions with greater strength.

Faced with a new round of industry upswing and policy orientation, the global M&A market is quite active, and domestic and foreign semiconductor companies have frequently made acquisitions. According to incomplete statistics from Jiwei.com, there were 31 acquisitions in the semiconductor industry in the first half of 2024, and mergers and acquisitions around automotive semiconductors were relatively intensive. By region, there were 14 mergers and acquisitions initiated by Chinese companies, accounting for 45.16%. Nanochip, Xinlian Integrated Circuit, and Zhongjing Technology have officially announced acquisitions; for foreign companies, Renesas Electronics, Synopsys, and Cadence have each announced two mergers and acquisitions.

The following is a summary of semiconductor mergers and acquisitions in the first half of 2024 compiled by Jiwei.com:

China

Chenzhan Optoelectronics acquires 70% equity of Hongtong Technology for RMB 180 million

Chenzhan Optoelectronics reviewed and approved the "Proposal on the Acquisition of Hongtong Technology Equity and Related Transactions" and the "Proposal on Changing the Use of Part of the Raised Funds" on September 27, 2023. After review, it was agreed that the company would use the raised funds of RMB 180 million to acquire 60% of Hongtong Technology held by Xiangda Optics.

As of February 1, Hongtong Technology received the business license reissued by Xiamen Market Supervision Administration, and the industrial and commercial registration procedures involved in this equity transfer have been completed. As of the date of disclosure of this announcement, the company has paid RMB 180 million to Xiangda Optics for the equity transfer and completed all related delivery work, and Hongtong Technology has become a holding subsidiary of the company.

After the transaction is completed, Chenzhan Optoelectronics will hold a 70% stake in Hongtong Technology, and Xiangda Optics will still hold a 30% stake in Hongtong Technology.

Hon Hai acquires German ZF Group subsidiary for 2.611 billion yuan

On February 1, Hon Hai announced that it had completed the passenger car chassis system joint venture process with Germany's ZF Group. Hon Hai acquired 50% of the shares and Class A special shares of ZF Chassis Modules GmbH for 332 million euros (about 2.611 billion yuan). The new joint venture is called ZF Foxconn Chassis Modules, with an enterprise value of about 1 billion euros. Hon Hai's move will expand its business scope from automotive electronics to power chassis systems and increase its vertical integration capabilities in electric vehicles.

Germany's ZF Group is one of the world's top three Tier 1 suppliers of automotive components, with Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Stellantis as its top three customers. Foxconn is expected to use this opportunity to establish relationships with traditional German car manufacturers and introduce new products.

In addition to the semiconductor field, in the first half of 2024, many mergers and acquisitions also occurred in application fields such as automobiles, AI, panels, and communications. Jiwei.com has also sorted and summarized this, and welcomes continued attention.

AAC Technologies Completes Acquisition of 80% Equity Interest in Premium Sound Solutions (PSS)

In February, AAC Technologies announced that, based on the announcement of August 10, 2023 regarding the proposed acquisition of Acoustics Solutions International BV, the circular of January 18, 2024 and the voting results of the special general meeting of shareholders on February 6, 2024, the first batch of proposed transactions agreed upon in the terms of the sale and purchase agreement was completed on February 9, 2024.

The completion of the transaction marks that Premium Sound Solutions (PSS) has now become an indirect subsidiary of AAC Technologies with an 80% equity interest, and its financial results will be consolidated into the overall results of AAC Technologies. This acquisition is a strategic move to accelerate AAC Technologies' diversification and expansion in the automotive industry and enhance its audio solutions portfolio.

SiRuiPu plans to acquire 100% equity of Chuangxinwei for RMB 1.06 billion

On February 7, SiRuiPu announced that after the disclosure of the "Draft of SiRuiPu Microelectronics Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. Issuing Convertible Corporate Bonds and Paying Cash to Purchase Assets and Raising Supporting Funds", the company negotiated with one of the transaction counterparties, Ai Yulin, and planned to acquire an additional 14.7426% of Chuangxinwei's shares held by Ai Yulin. After the adjustment of the restructuring plan, SiRuiPu plans to acquire 100% of Chuangxinwei's shares at a transaction price of 1.06 billion yuan.

SiRuiPu is a chip company engaged in analog and embedded processors. Its products are mainly signal chain and power analog chips, and it is gradually integrating embedded processors to provide comprehensive solutions. Its application scope covers many fields such as information communication, industrial control, monitoring and security, medical health, instrumentation, new energy and automobiles.

ASE acquires Infineon's two packaging and testing plants in the Philippines and South Korea for RMB 464 million

On February 22, ASE Technology Holding announced that it would invest approximately NT$2.1 billion (approximately RMB 464 million) to acquire Infineon's two back-end packaging and testing plants in the Philippines and South Korea, and the transaction could be completed as early as the end of the second quarter of this year.

Among them, the transaction amount of Infineon Technologies Manufacturing Ltd in Cavite Province, Philippines is approximately 38.998 million euros (approximately NT$1.32 billion), and Infineon Technologies PowerSemitech Co., Ltd. located in Cheonan City, South Korea, was acquired by ASE's Korean subsidiary for approximately 23.591 million euros. Both transactions are expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of this year at the earliest.

It is reported that Infineon's packaging and testing plant in South Korea has 300 employees, and its packaging and testing plant in the Philippines has more than 900 employees. ASE said that the employees of the two local factories will continue to be retained.

Changdian Technology plans to acquire 80% of SanDisk Semiconductor for RMB 4.5 billion

On March 17, Changdian Technology issued an announcement stating that the company plans to increase its capital by RMB 4.5 billion with RMB 2.1 billion in raised funds and RMB 2.4 billion in self-raised funds, mainly for increasing the capital of Changdian Technology Automotive Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and acquiring 80% of the equity of SanDisk Semiconductor (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

Changdian Technology said that this capital increase is in line with the company's strategic planning and business development needs, and will help further meet the growing market and customer needs and improve the company's industrial layout.

AUO completes acquisition of German auto parts manufacturer BHTC for RMB 4.72 billion

On October 2, 2023, AUO's board of directors resolved to acquire 100% of the equity of Germany's BHTC for an enterprise value of 600 million euros (approximately RMB 4.72 billion). After the two parties passed various delivery preconditions and were approved by relevant national authorities, they announced on April 2, 2024 that the acquisition was officially completed.

It is reported that BHTC is a Tier 1 supplier of automotive parts, dealing directly with automakers and participating in the upstream stage of new model development. Its customers include Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz Group. BHTC has subsidiaries in Germany, the United States, China, India, Japan, Bulgaria, Mexico and Finland, and is particularly strong in forward-looking R&D and engineering service teams in Europe and India.

Runjing Technology acquires two Chinese factories of Sumitomo Chemical! Enhance the competitiveness of wet electronic chemistry

On April 16, Runjing Technology announced that it had reached an agreement with Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. on the full acquisition of Sumika Electronic Materials Technology (Hefei) Co., Ltd. and Sumika Electronic Materials Technology (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. under the group, and the two parties have completed the signing of the equity transfer contract. Hefei Sumika and Chongqing Sumika will become wholly-owned subsidiaries of Runjing Technology.

Runjing Technology said that through this acquisition, it will inherit the technical advantages and business system of Sumitomo Chemical Group, quickly expand its product portfolio (such as etching solution, stripping solution, CF developer), and provide customers with a variety of overall supply solutions, thereby improving Runjing Technology's competitiveness in China's wet electronic chemical market. At the same time, the regional layout in Chongqing and Hefei can achieve rapid response to local customers.

The first acquisition after listing! Canrui Technology acquires Nanjing Ruihe Electronics

On April 28, Canrui Technology announced that it had recently successfully acquired Nanjing Ruihe Electronics Co., Ltd. to accelerate the strategic layout of intelligent power and drive. It is reported that this is the first acquisition of Canrui Technology after its listing.

Nanjing Ruihe Electronics Co., Ltd. was established in 2018 and focuses on the research and development and production of digital power management and intelligent drive products. Shanghai Canrui Technology Co., Ltd. was established in 2005 and was listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange on October 18, 2022. Canrui Technology focuses on the research and development and production of smart sensors, power management and signal chains.

Suoling shares transferred 57.09% of Yunmu Technology's equity for more than 57.6 million yuan, becoming the latter's controlling shareholder

Suoling shares issued an announcement stating that on May 14, the company reviewed and approved the "Proposal on the Acquisition of 57.0853% Equity of Wuhu Yunmu Electronic Technology Co., Ltd." It agreed that the company and the designated holding platform Wuhu Lingyun Technology Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Wuhu Chery Technology Co., Ltd. would sign the "Equity Transfer Agreement" respectively, and the two parties reached an agreement on the acquisition of Wuhu Yunmu Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. Wuhu Chery will transfer its 48.01002 million yuan (47.5808%) and 9.5902 million yuan (9.5045%) Yunmu Technology shares to Suoling shares and Lingyun Partnership at a price of 1 yuan respectively.

Prior to this equity transfer, Suoling Co., Ltd. had held 1.9821% of the equity of Yunmu Technology through equity transfer; after the completion of this equity transfer, Suoling Co., Ltd. will hold 59.0674% of the equity of Yunmu Technology through direct and indirect shareholding, becoming the controlling shareholder of Yunmu Technology.

SiS reorganization expected to complete acquisition of Shandong Lianliang Semiconductor by the end of the year

Silicon Integrated Circuit (SiS), an IC design company under UMC, held a shareholders' meeting on May 27. Chairman Hong Jiacong said that SiS's largest shareholder is UMC, and its profits have been supported by UMC's dividends for more than 20 years. This time, SiS's reorganization will shoot three arrows. The first is to implement cash capital reduction, then refocus on product lines, and thirdly, to acquire Shandong Lianliang Semiconductor. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of the year, by which time SiS will have more ASIC capabilities.

Hong Jiacong said that Shandong Lianliang Semiconductor is an ASIC design service company located in Jinan, Shandong. It is somewhat similar to Zhiyuan. After years of hard work in mainland China, it is also well-known locally. Last year, it had revenue of 1.3 billion yuan and profit of more than 200 million yuan. In the first quarter of this year, its revenue increased by 10% year-on-year and its profit was 60 million yuan. It is a good target.

Zhongjing Technology plans to acquire 49% equity of Jiangsu Gaoxin for RMB 166 million

On June 17, Zhongjing Technology issued an announcement stating that the company plans to acquire 49% of the equity of its controlling subsidiary Jiangsu Gaoxin held by Nantong Gaoxin, Xinyuan Investment and Horizontal Line Investment in cash, with a total transfer price of RMB 165.9434 million.

After the completion of this transaction, Zhongjing Technology's equity ratio in Jiangsu Gaoxin increased from 51% to 100%, and Jiangsu Gaoxin became a wholly-owned subsidiary within the scope of the company's consolidated financial statements.

Xinlian Integrated Circuit plans to acquire 72.33% of Xinlian Yuezhou's equity to strengthen 8-inch silicon-based production capacity management

On June 21, Xinlian Integrated Circuit issued an announcement stating that the company plans to acquire the remaining 72.33% equity of its controlling subsidiary Xinlian Yuezhou Integrated Circuit Manufacturing (Shaoxing) Co., Ltd. through the issuance of shares and payment of cash.

The counterparties of the transaction include 15 shareholders of Xinlian Yuezhou, including Shaoxing Binhai New Area Xinxing Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Shenzhen Yuanzhi No. 1 Private Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership). After the transaction is completed, Xinlian Yuezhou will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xinlian Integration. It is reported that Xinlian Yuezhou is the implementing entity of the second phase project of the listed company, with a silicon-based production capacity of about 70,000 pieces per month.

Nanochip plans to acquire part of the equity of Shanghai Magntron Microelectronics for RMB 683 million

On the evening of June 23, Nanochip disclosed an announcement stating that the company plans to acquire a portion of the equity of Shanghai Magntron Microelectronics Co., Ltd.

It is understood that Nanochip intends to acquire 62.68% of the shares of MagnTek directly held by Shanghai Sirui Technology Co., Ltd. in cash, and intends to acquire 5.6% of the shares of MagnTek indirectly held by Sirui Technology through Shanghai Lairui Enterprise Management Partnership (Limited Partnership) in cash, totaling 68.28% of the shares of MagnTek, and the total purchase price is approximately RMB 683 million.

Nanochip stated that after the completion of this transaction, the company will directly and indirectly hold 79.31% of MagnTek's shares, including 68.28% of MagnTek's shares directly and 11.03% of MagnTek's shares indirectly through Shanghai Lairui and Shanghai Liuci. It will be able to decide on the election of more than half of the members of MagnTek's board of directors. MagnTek will become a holding subsidiary of the company and be included in the company's consolidated financial statements.

Overseas Regions

Intel acquires Silicon Mobility to enter the automotive electronics market

On January 9, 2024 local time, Intel announced at the CES 2024 that it plans to push the company's artificial intelligence (AI) strategy into the automotive market, including the acquisition of Silicon Mobility.

Intel did not disclose the acquisition price, but according to its official website, Silicon Mobility is a fabless chip design and software company specializing in smart electric vehicle (EV) energy management SoCs. The chips it designs are key components for controlling electric vehicle powertrains. The company completed a $10 million Series B financing in 2018. Based on this, Intel's acquisition amount may be hundreds of millions of dollars.

HPE acquires Juniper Networks for $14 billion

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), a data center hardware manufacturer, announced on January 9 that it would acquire Juniper Networks for $14 billion in an all-cash deal at a price of $40 per share, a 32% premium based on Juniper Networks' closing price of $30.22 on January 8.

The purchase price is reportedly more than half of HPE's $21 billion market value. HPE said it will finance the acquisition through a series of term loans.

Cadence acquires Invecas and BETA CAE Systems for $1.24 billion

On January 9, Cadence announced the acquisition of Invecas, Inc., a leading provider of design engineering, embedded software and system-level solutions headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The acquisition gave Cadence a highly skilled design engineering team.

In addition, Cadence said on March 5 that it would acquire BETA CAE Systems, which makes software for analyzing automotive and jet design, for $1.24 billion in cash and stock, including $744 million in cash. The deal with BETA CAE continues a trend that Cadence announced in February of this year, when it announced a supercomputer designed to help simulate the flow of air around jets, among other uses.

Renesas Electronics acquires Transphorm for $339 million, betting on GaN technology

On January 11, Renesas Electronics and Transphorm, a leader in gallium nitride (GaN) devices, announced that the two parties had reached a final agreement. According to the agreement, a subsidiary of Renesas Electronics will acquire Transphorm at a price of US$5.10 per share, a premium of approximately 35% over Transphorm's closing price on January 10, with a total valuation of approximately US$339 million. In June, Renesas Electronics stated that it had completed the acquisition.

In addition, on February 15, Renesas Electronics announced that it would acquire 100% of the shares of Australian design software provider Altium for A$9.1 billion (approximately US$5.91 billion) in an all-cash transaction.

Altium's history began in Australia in 1985 as the world's first provider of printed circuit board (PCB) design tools. The company has grown to become a global market leader with some of the best-known PCB software tools available today.

Synopsys to acquire simulation software company Ansys for $35 billion

On January 16, local time, Synopsys said it would acquire simulation software company Ansys for approximately $35 billion in a cash and stock transaction. The deal is aimed at expanding Synopsys' customer base and its product suite.

Synopsys, based in Sunnyvale, California, is one of the few large companies that produces semiconductor design software, competing primarily with Cadence Design Systems. Meanwhile, Ansys produces simulation software used by engineers to help predict how products will work in the real world. Engineers use its structural analysis software before a project begins to reduce manufacturing costs, reduce risk and bring products to market faster.

Also at the end of March, Synopsys announced that it had completed its acquisition of Intrinsic ID, a provider of physically unclonable function (PUF) IP for SoC design.

Qorvo Acquires AnokiWave to Expand Product Portfolio and Market

On January 31, Qorvo, a provider of connectivity and power solutions, announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire AnokiWave, a leading supplier of high-performance silicon integrated circuits for smart active array antennas for D&A, SATCOM and 5G applications. The transaction was expected to be completed in the March quarter.

Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the AnokiWave team will join Qorvo's High Performance Analog (HPA) division and will continue to develop beamformer and IF-RF solutions for defense phased array and AESA radars, electronic warfare, satellite communications and 5G applications.

Japanese photoresist giant JSR acquired by JIC for over $6 billion

According to a press release issued by JSR, JIC launched the tender offer on March 19 and completed the acquisition on April 16 at a price of 4,350 yen (US$28.13) per share. Approximately 175.27 million shares, or approximately 84% of JSR's outstanding shares, were acquired, exceeding the minimum purchase amount of approximately 138.5 million shares, and payments will begin on April 23.

Including net interest-bearing debt, the acquisition is valued at approximately 1 trillion yen ($6.47 billion). JSR expects to delist. Looking ahead, JSR believes that acquiring new technologies and expanding scale through acquisitions are the keys to success.

Stellantis acquires stake in lidar startup SteerLight

European automaker Stellantis announced on March 20 that it would acquire a stake in lidar startup SteerLight to strengthen its market position and ensure access to key sensors for autonomous driving.

Stellantis, the world's fourth-largest auto group and maker of Fiat, Peugeot and Citroen cars, said the move was aimed at diversifying its supply of light detection and ranging (lidar) and accelerating the development of components for its future electric fleet.

Microchip acquires Neuronix artificial intelligence lab to enhance FPGA deployment efficiency

On April 15, Microchip announced the acquisition of Neuronix AI Labs to further enhance its ability to deploy energy-efficient artificial intelligence edge solutions on FPGAs. Neuronix AI Labs provides neural network sparsity optimization technology that can reduce power consumption, size, and computational complexity for tasks such as image classification, object detection, and semantic segmentation while maintaining high accuracy.

Microchip's mid-range PolarFire FPGAs and SoCs are already industry leaders in low power consumption, reliability and security features. After the completion of this acquisition, Microchip will be able to develop cost-effective large-scale edge deployment components for computer vision applications on cost-, size- and power-constrained systems, and multiply the AI/ML processing capabilities of mid- and low-end FPGAs.

Synopsys sells SIG unit to private equity for $2.1 billion

On May 6, Synopsys announced that it would sell its software integrity business (SIG) to a private equity consortium led by Clearlake Capital and Francisco Partners. The transaction is worth $2.1 billion and is expected to be completed in the second half of this year. After the transaction is completed, the business will become a new independent application security testing software provider.

Upon closing of the transaction, the existing SIG management team is expected to lead the new independent private company. The name of the new independent entity will be announced at a later date.

PI officially announced the acquisition of Odyssey semiconductor assets to promote the use of GaN to challenge SiC

Power Integrations (PI) announced on May 8 that it will acquire the assets of Odyssey Semiconductor Technologies, a developer of vertical gallium nitride (GaN) transistor technology. The transaction is expected to be completed in July 2024, when all key employees of Odyssey will join Power Integrations' technology department.

PI said the acquisition will provide strong support for the continued development of PI's proprietary PowiGaN technology. PowiGaN technology has been widely used in many of the company's product lines, including InnoSwitch IC, HiperPFS-5 power factor correction IC and the recently launched InnoMux-2 series of single-stage multiple output ICs.

Advanced Energy Industries to acquire XP Power for $734 million

On May 21, Advanced Energy Industries announced that it may acquire all the issued and to be issued shares of XP Power Limited for £19.50 per share in cash.

The company previously submitted three all-cash proposals to XP Power's board of directors, but XP's board unanimously rejected each proposal. The latest proposed proposal has a total consideration of £571 million (approximately $734 million), based on a fully diluted share count of 24 million ordinary shares, net debt of £103.4 million as of March 31, 2024, and no dividends will be declared or paid after this announcement. Advanced Energy intends to fund the acquisition with cash available on its balance sheet.

Advantest acquires two Dutch companies Salland and Applicos

In early June, it was reported that Advantest, the Japanese chip test equipment (ATE) market leader, will acquire Salland Engineering and Applicos, headquartered in Zwolle, the Netherlands, for a full amount of undisclosed. Salland and Applicos were acquired by the Salland Group in 2018.

It is understood that Salland develops and produces test instruments and tools, and provides testing services. Typical customers are chip manufacturers, who combine these products with test equipment from companies such as Advantest and Teradune in the United States; Applicos develops instruments for high-precision analog signal generation and measurement. The group has about 100 employees, two-thirds of whom are engineers.

Nvidia to acquire software startup Shoreline at $100 million valuation

Nvidia has agreed to acquire Shoreline.io, a startup for software developers founded by former Amazon AWS executives, people familiar with the matter said on June 18. The deal, which was recently completed, values ​​Shoreline at about $100 million.

Shoreline, based in Redwood City, California, develops software that finds problems and events in computer systems and helps automate processes to fix them. The company was founded in 2019 by Anurag Gupta, who previously worked at Amazon AWS for about eight years.