Intel

Summary List Placement Big merger deals, once rare in the semiconductor industry, have been accelerating as chip giants jockey for position in a rapidly shifting market.  And the buying spree has picked up steam in the last few months with back-to-back deals worth $100 billion in total. Over the past few years, major chip makers, led by Nvidia, AMD and Intel, have been on a buying spree, gobbling up or making bold, even surprising, bids for companies, including startups and longtime industry players.   "The semiconductor industry has been on fire this year," Charles Wuischpard, CEO of chip startup Ayar Labs, which just raised $35 million in venture capital funding, told Business Insider. "Lots of transactions."  Bernstein Research analyst Stacy Rasgon said the M&A wave started around 2014-2015. But "this would be the biggest year for consolidation," he told Business Insider. The big chip M&A deals over the past seven months include: In April, Nvidia acquired networking chip and equipment maker Mellanox for $7 billion. In July, Analog Devices, the maker of analog chips, announced it was buying rival Maxim for $21 billion. In September, Nvidia said it had signed a $40 billion deal to buy chip design powerhouse Arm from Softbank In October, AMD unveiled a $35 billion deal to acquire programmable chipmaker Xilinx. Later that same month, Marvell announced a deal to buy networking chip company Inphi for $10.6 billion. The M&A wave, together with a rise of semiconductor startups, highlights the growing need for new and more powerful processors for new technologies, led by the cloud and AI. The rash of acquisitions also underline the chip industry's rapid growth over the past decade, from a market worth less than $300 billion to one now worth more than $400 billion, said IDC analyst Mario Morales. "You're getting to a point where it's a very large industry, and the growth is beginning to mature," he told Business Insider. "You start seeing a lot more companies trying to get bigger and the only way they do that is through consolidation because that's the only way they can continue growing their top line revenue." Gerard Williams, CEO and cofounder of chip design startup Nuvia, and an Apple veteran who helped design the iPhone processor, said those big M&A moves also highlight the shift in the chip market that threatens Intel, the world's biggest chip company. AMD's "acquisition of Xilinx represents a huge bet on the future of their data center business and underscores the M&A frenzy taking hold in the chip sector right now," he told Business Insider. "Nvidia's bid to buy ARM is an even bolder move to re-shape the silicon landscape and further displace Intel's core business." Nvidia is the most aggressive acquirer The most aggressive acquirer, by far, has been Nvidia. The graphics chip maker which has emerged as a major player in the market for data center chips and AI technologies that require more powerful processors for handling massive amounts of data.  Morales said Nvidia's bid for Mellanox, which is expected to boost its position in the data center market, was actually a "pivotal" event in this year's M&A wave.  The deal surprised some industry experts after it easily got regulatory approval, especially in China. "People were very concerned that China was not going to approve that deal, or that it would take longer," Morales said. In fact, Nvidia's success in gobbling up Mellanox "really started opening the floodgates" to bigger acquisitions, Morales said. "Once they got that done, you could see that a lot of the other vendors that were already looking at acquisitions began to move forward more aggressively — including Nvidia." Two months after buying Mellanox, Nvidia stunned the tech world by announcing a $40 billion deal to buy chip design powerhouse Arm from Softbank. Arm's chip designs are widely used in the smaartphone and tablet market and are expected to be adopted in other growing markets, including data centers.  Morales called the move an "opportunistic" buy since Softbank was facing a major cash crunch that forced the Japanese conglomerate to sell a huge chunk of its assets. The Nvidia-Arm deal still has to clear regulatory hurdles, especially in China. But Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Wednesday affirmed that the acquisition would transform Nvidia into an even more dominant player in a growing chip market. "With our pending acquisition of Arm…we will create the computing company for the age of AI, with computing extending from the cloud to trillions of devices," he told analysts on the company's earnings call. Even AMD, which is not known for making aggressive acquisitions — its last big buy was in 2006 when it bought chip maker ATI for $5.4 billion — joined the fray. Last month, the chip giant also surprised the industry with a $35 billion bid for Xilinx, the programmable chipmaker. Michelle Johnston, Intel's executive vice president for marketing and communications, said Nvidia's Arm deal and AMD's bid for Xilinx reflect "the reality that as data grows exponentially, so does the demand for computing performance to process it." The deal is fueled by rising valuations for chip companies Morales said rising chip valuations have definitely helped semiconductor companies in pursuing deals. Despite the pandemic, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which tracks chip stocks, has climbed more than 35% year to date.  AMD, which is gaining share in the server chip market against Intel, has seen its stock rise nearly 80% this year, while Nvidia shares have doubled.  Earlier this year, Nvidia actually overtook Intel as the most valuable US semiconductor company based on market capitalization. Nvidia is now worth more than $332 billion, outpacing Intel which has a market cap of $186 billion and AMD, which is worth $102 billion. Intel has struggled with production missteps and stiffer competition from AMD in the data center chip market. But the tech giant has also embarked on an aggressive M&A strategy to adapt to the evolving semiconductor market. "We have been on a multi-year portfolio transformation making investments both organically and inorganically that position Intel to capitalize on a range of high-growth opportunities," Johnston, the Intel executive vice president, told Business Insider. Compared to the AMD and Nvidia deals, Intel has made only several low key acquisitions this year, including a $900 million deal for mobility app Moovit. But Intel actually has been leading the M&A wave over the last few years with a series of acquisitions, including its acquisition of Altera, the Xilinx rival, which it bought for $17 billion in 2015. Two years later, Intel spent $15 billion to acquire car-tech company Mobileye. Last year, Intel acquired AI chip company Habana for $2 billion. "Intel was probably one of the ones that was very aggressive over the past five years," Morales said. "They bought over a dozen companies to make sure that they protect their moat, make sure that they can continue to grow on a top level basis, and also make sure that they can diversify, and not just be in PCs, but also in areas like IoT, and automotive and what we're seeing today in terms of the the core infrastructure area." Got a tip about Nvidia, Intel, AMD or another tech company? Contact this reporter via email at bpimentel@businessinsider.com, message him on Twitter @benpimentel or send him a secure message through Signal at (510) 731-8429. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.SEE ALSO: Experts predict 15 gigantic tech mergers we could see in a recession, from Amazon buying Oracle to IBM buying Dell SEE ALSO: Tech sales and marketing salaries revealed: How much enterprise giants IBM, Oracle, Dell, Cisco, and VMware pay sales reps, managers, and consultants Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Epidemiologists debunk 13 coronavirus myths

Summary List Placement The semiconductor industry has been growing rapidly as the rise of technologies like cloud computing and artificial intelligence spark stronger demand for more powerful computer processors. Intel, the world's biggest chipmaker, is facing stiffer competition from rivals led by AMD and Nvidia, which are challenging its dominance in the lucrative data center chip market and outpacing the Silicon Valley giant in AI. Memory chip giant Micron has also benefitted from strong demand for memory processors. The competition has also led to heightened competition for talent, especially in hardware and software engineering  and artificial intelligence. Big chip companies have been looking overseas to fill key roles through the H-1B visa program.  Business Insider analyzed the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification's 2020 disclosure data for permanent and temporary foreign workers to find out what four major semiconductor giants — Nvidia, Intel, AMD, and Micron — have paid recent new hires. Companies are required to disclose information, such as salary ranges, when they hire foreign workers under the H-1B visa program, giving insight into what these major companies are willing to shell out for talent. This data comes with some caveats: For some positions, the companies gave only a salary range, rather than a specific figure. And the data included here may not give a complete picture of any given employee's compensation package, which could also include cash or stock bonuses. Still, the disclosure data gives a rare look into the wages paid by these tech giants. Here's how much these top chip companies paid new employees hired in 2020:SEE ALSO: Enterprise tech salaries revealed: How much Oracle, IBM, SAP, Cisco, Dell, VMware, ServiceNow and Workday pay engineers, developers, data scientists and others SEE ALSO: VCs say that these 29 companies are the top startups in the booming big data industry Intel hired strategic planning manager in California with a salary between $232,000 and $310,000 Intel, the world's biggest chip maker, has struggled with production delays that have enabled rival AMD to gain market share, particularly in the data center chip market. But Intel remains a giant, with a huge reach and a massive intellectual property arsenal. "Intel is still a behemoth," Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon told Business Insider recently. "They still generate a ton of cash. They're fine. ... I'm not worried about Intel going to zero." Here are Intel's recent hires and how much they are paid based on 739 approved visa applications: Strategic planning manager (California): $232,000 to $310,000 Senior engineering manager (California): $200,000 to $310,000 SoC design engineering manager (Texas): $197,000 to $305,000 Software engineering manager (Oregon): $153,000 to $305,000 Director of silicon technology and prototyping lab (Oregon): $153,000 to $297,000 Director of foundry platform definition (Oregon): $153,000 to $247,000 Merger and acquisition integration manager (California): $180,000 to $237,000   AMD hired a senior manager firmware engineering in Texas with a salary between $175,000 and $230,000 AMD has been gaining market share from Intel in the fast growing market for data center chips.  The Silicon Valley company, which has long played the role of David to Intel's Goliath, has also outpaced its bigger rival in manufacturing technology after Intel's recent production missteps. Here are some of AMD's recent hires and how much they are paid based on 377 approved visa applications: Fellow silicon design engineer (California): $220,000 to $299,000 Senior manager silicon design engineering (California): $203,000 to $277,000 Analog design engineer (Texas): $193,000 to $298,000 Senior independent software vendor relationship manager (California): $200,000 to $269,000 Senior manager firmware engineering (Texas): $175,000 to $230,000 Information security senior manager (Texas): $215,000 to $228,000 Senior fields application engineer (California): $119,000 to $198,000     Micron hired a senior principal firmware engineer in California with a salary of $220,000 Micron is a powerhouse in the memory chip market which has become more critical of late as cloud, AI and the Internet of Things have triggered huge demand for data storage systems and memory. Here are some of Micron's recent hires and how much they are paid based on 425 approved visa applications: Director of SSD architecture (California): $225,000 Senior principal firmware engineer (California): $220,000 DEG product engineering director (Idaho): $205,000 Principal firmware engineer (California): $205,000 Senior manager, validation architecture (California): $195,000 Senior staff design engineer (California): $192,000 Principal mobile media architect (California): $177,000   Nvidia hired a director of deep learning inference in California with a salary between $242,000 and $250,000 Nvidia, which has long dominated the graphics chip market, has emerged as a major player in enterprise over the past several years. The rise of AI sparked stronger demand for more powerful computing power to process huge amounts of data. Nvidia's products, which are used in gaming systems and Hollywood special effects, have outpaced chips from rivals Intel and AMD responding to the need. Here are some of Nvidia's recent hires and how much they are paid based on 267 approved visa applications: Director of deep learning inference (California): $242,000 to $250,000 Software engineer (California): $173,000 to $349,000 Deep learning algorithms manager (California): $242,000 to $315,000 Computer architect (California): $173,000 to $287,000 Electronics architect (California): $158,000 to $287,000 Hardware engineer, electronics (California): $158,000 to $278,000 Research scientist (Washington): $180,000 to $272,000  

Comments

Its long fruitful relationship with Apple may be sunsetting soon, but Intel’s still got a fairly massive footprint in the PC market. There’s never a good time to get complacent, though (a lesson the company learned the hard way on the mobile front). This week the chip giant is debuting its own laptop, the NUC […]

Intel Corp. has sold its Enpirion power management and controller product line to Richtek Technology Corp., a subsidiary of Taiwanese semiconductor company MediaTek Inc. for $85 million. Enpirion was found in 2001 by a team of technology experts from Bell Laboratories with a focus on power management architecture, power semiconductor devices and high-frequency magnetic materials. According to […] The post Intel sells its Enpirion power management and controller product line to Richtek for $85M appeared first on SiliconANGLE.

A high-level block diagram outlines the hardware and software deliverables for Intel Open FPGA Stack (Intel OFS). The bottom half depicts a PCI Express board with an Intel FPGA. Board and application developers use the hardware code to develop the FPGA interface manager and workloads. The Intel FPGA uses the PCI Express interface to pass data to and from the host beginning with the Linux drivers and open programmable acceleration engine library. Intel OFS also includes foundational application examples.read more