According to the latest statistics from IC Insights, the amount of semiconductor industry M&A transactions in the fourth quarter of 2018 fell for the fourth consecutive quarter. The amount of semiconductor industry M&A in 2018 was $23.2 billion, which was $28.1 billion in 2017.
In 2018, the two largest semiconductor industry acquisitions were Microchip's acquisition of Microsemi for $8.35 billion and Renesas' acquisition of IDT for $6.7 billion. The two acquisitions accounted for 65% of the total IC industry M&A transaction volume for the year.
There are two other M&A in which the transaction amounted to more than $1 billion in 2018, including Micron’s purchase of the entire shareholding of IM Flash, a joint venture with Intel, for approximately $1.5 billion, and the acquisition of Nexperia by Wingtech Technology. IC Insights noted that Wingtech expects to acquire a majority stake in Nexperia (approximately 76%) by 2019.
IC Insights pointed out that compared with the M&A amount of US$107.3 billion in the peak period of IC industry mergers and acquisitions in 2015, the industry M&A fever has obviously subsided.
