China's Tsinghua Unigroup unveiled a stake of roughly 6% in Lattice Semiconductor on Wednesday, sending shares of the US chip manufacturer soaring 18% on speculation of a possible acquisition.

Apple is in "advanced talks" to acquire British chip design company Imagination Technologies, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions. When Ars sought comment, Imagination Technologies refused to deny any such planned takeover.

Microchip Technology has announced the receipt of antitrust clearance in US and Germany for its acquisition of Atmel

The news follows Cisco's Tuesday announcement of the acquisition of Cliqr Technologies for about $260 million to enhance offerings in cloud computing management software and services. Leaba's website doesn't elaborate on what its technology provides, but Ynet said it allowed for more efficient and intelligent routing of Internet traffic.

Technology distributor Ingram Micro Inc. has agreed to be acquired for about US$6 billion by a unit of Chinese conglomerate HNA Group.

Xilinx shares are on the move Thursday-fully erasing January's 8.2% decline-following the chip maker's fiscal third-quarter report. But the results, solid as they were, aren't the reason.

Texas Instruments and Analog Devices have decided not to pursue an acquisition of Maxim Integrated Products at this time, according to people familiar with the matter.

Synaptics is nearing an agreement to be bought by a state-backed Chinese investment group that values the company at more than US$110 per share, according to people familiar with the matter.

Microchip Technology has signed a deal to buy Atmel, which said last week that Microchip's unsolicited bid was superior to an agreement with Dialog Semiconductor.

Dialog Semiconductor said it won't raise bid for Atmel, improving the likelihood that Microchip Technology's offer for Atmel will succeed.

ON Semiconductor on Wednesday said it extended its tender offer for Fairchild Semiconductor International until Jan. 20 but didn't raise its offer of $20 a share, which remains below a competing bid.

Ampleon has formed its global business operations following the successful acquisition of the RF Power business line by Jianguang Asset Management from NXP Semiconductors. The formation of Ampleon followed the completion of the merger between NXP and Freescale Semiconductor, in an $11.8 billion deal.

Microchip Technology is the semiconductor manufacturer which made the $3.8 billion unsolicited offer for peer Atmel that was disclosed last week, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Semiconductor industry business leaders predict that the number of mergers and acquisitions in 2016 will match or exceed 2015, according to an annual survey of semiconductor industry business leaders conducted by business consultancy and auditor KPMG LLP.

The deal includes the century-old newspaper, outdoor advertising, digital assets and magazines.

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.

Abu Dhabi's investment arm is considering a sale of all or part of chipmaker Globalfoundries as the emirate explores asset disposals amid a slump in crude oil, people familiar with the matter said.

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.

European antitrust regulators cleared on Monday Avago Technologies planned US$37 billion takeover of rival chipmaker Broadcom without conditions.

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.

If Tsinghua Unigroup is unable to acquire the necessary IP to build 3D NAND, I believe the Chinese company will scrap its plan to build the new fab.

Tsinghua's ambitions in the memory chip business are well known. It is reportedly targeting an investment in Renesas as a vehicle for China to gain a foothold in the logic business - especially in the automotive and MCU segments.

I know Intel partnered up with Tsinghua Unigroup last year to buy a 20% stake in Chinese fabless chipmakers RDA Microlectronics and Spreadtrum. However, I do not think Intel would be a major partner in Tsinghua Unigroup's $47 billion plan to become the world's third-largest chipmaker. I believe troubled AMD is more likely to be desperate enough to welcome Tsinghua's money.

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.

One of the greatest risks to Apple's iPhone and iPad sales is its ability to secure enough DRAM (at a reasonable cost) when the inevitable shortage occurs in the future.

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.

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.

Philips has announced that its $3.3bn sale of Lumileds could be blocked by US authorities.

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.

The two companies could reach a deal as soon as this week.

World No. 1 chipmaker Intel gained unconditional EU antitrust approval on Wednesday for its US$16.7 billion bid for Altera, its largest ever acquisition.

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

Micron Technology and Western Digital are in talks with SanDisk about a possible acquisition, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.

Tsinghua Unigroup, the state-backed Chinese firm that recently agreed to buy a stake in Western Digital, is close to acquiring local chip company Tongfang Guoxin Electronics, a person familiar with the matter said.

EMC, the data storage company that is preparing to unveil an agreement to be acquired by personal computer maker Dell as early as Monday, is also planning to seek out other suitors, according to people familiar with the matter.