AMD confirms $35bn acquisition of Xilinx to forge new chip giant

28 Oct 2020

Image: © Sundry Photography/Stock.adobe.com

AMD said the $35bn acquisition of Xilinx will create the ‘industry’s leading high-performance computing company’.

Two of the biggest chip makers in the business are to become one following the acquisition of Xilinx by AMD. The $35bn all-stock deal – expected to close by the end of next year – will create a combined company that employs 13,000 engineers with more than $2.7bn of annual R&D investments.

AMD said that by joining forces it will create the “industry’s leading high-performance computing company”, tapping into growth segments such as data centres, gaming, automotive, industrial, aerospace and defence.

“Our acquisition of Xilinx marks the next leg in our journey to establish AMD as the industry’s high-performance computing leader and partner of choice for the largest and most important technology companies in the world,” said AMD president and CEO Dr Lisa Su.

“The Xilinx team is one of the strongest in the industry and we are thrilled to welcome them to the AMD family. By combining our world-class engineering teams and deep domain expertise, we will create an industry leader with the vision, talent and scale to define the future of high-performance computing.”

The chips are up

Xilinx’s president and CEO, Victor Peng, added: “We are excited to join the AMD family. Our shared cultures of innovation, excellence and collaboration make this an ideal combination.

“Joining together with AMD will help accelerate growth in our data centre business and enable us to pursue a broader customer base across more markets.”

AMD’s latest earnings report, published yesterday (27 October), showed sales had increased by 56pc in the most recent quarter to $2.8bn. It posted a net income of $390m, up from $120m this time last year and $157m in the prior quarter.

The AMD and Xilinx deal comes at a time of change in the chip manufacturing space, with Nvidia announcing last month that it was to acquire British semiconductor and software design company Arm in a $40bn deal.

Also, Intel recently said it plans to sell its Nand memory chip business to the South Korean firm SK Hynix in a $9bn deal. In its statement, SK Hynix said that it agreed to purchase the assets from Intel in a bid to enhance the competitiveness of its storage solutions in the Nand flash space. The deal will make SK Hynix the second largest manufacturer of Nand memory, with Samsung retaining the top spot.

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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