Dylan McGrath, Contributing Editor
EETimes (1/21/2016 02:50 AM EST)
Microchip's proposed acquisition of Atmel would shake up the top three microcontroller vendors for the second time in a matter of months.
An unprecedented level of merger and acquisition activity over the past two years has dramatically redrawn the competitive landscape of the semiconductor industry. Perhaps nowhere has this upheaval been more acute than in microcontrollers, where another proposed acquisition would result in the second shakeup of the top three vendors in a matter of months.
Microchip Technology Inc.’s pending $3.8 billion acquisition of Atmel Corp. would move Microchip into the No. 3 position among microcontroller vendors less than two months after NXP Semiconductors NV moved into the No. 2 spot with the acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor Inc.