Why chip makers are buying software firms

Brent Lorenz, The McLean Group
EETimes (5/30/2012 12:20 PM EDT)

The owners of embedded software companies have long considered an acquisition by a semiconductor partner a logical exit strategy. We took a look at semiconductor acquisitions over the past two years with the aim of better understanding the dynamics of the market, and we came up with four critical questions:

• Which chip companies are using M&A to acquire software IP?
• What kinds of companies have they acquired?
• What kinds of valuations are being paid?
• What kinds of acquisitions do we expect to see in the future?