By Harshita Mary Varghese
Feb 4 (Reuters) – Texas Instruments on Wednesday agreed to buy chip designer Silicon Laboratories for about $7.5 billion, aiming to expand its presence in wireless connectivity chips used in industrial and consumer applications.
For TI, whose core strength lies in analog chips that manage signals and power in electronic equipment, the acquisition marks its biggest since the $6.5 billion deal for National Semiconductor in 2011.
Unlike AI chip firms Nvidia and AMD, TI focuses on foundational chips used in everyday devices such as smartphones, cars and medical devices, giving it a large client base that includes Apple, SpaceX and Ford.
Texas Instruments will acquire Silicon Labs for $231 per share in cash, implying a premium of about 69% to the stock’s last unaffected closing price on Tuesday, when the deal talks were first reported. Silicon shares jumped 49% to hit their highest level in four years.
Silicon had sold some automotive chip assets and other lines of business to Skyworks Solutions for $2.75 billion in 2021 to sharpen its focus on chips for connected devices such as smart homes, smart power meters and industrial equipment.
While TI continues to build foundational internal capacity, Silicon Labs provides a specialized connectivity layer that could create one of the most formidable wireless-analog portfolios in the industry, Stifel analysts said.
Texas Instruments is planning to finance the acquisition through cash on hand and debt. The deal is likely to generate about $450 million in annual manufacturing and operational savings within three years of closing, which is expected in the first half of 2027.
Under the terms of the agreement, Silicon would pay a $259 million termination fee if it walks away, while Texas would pay $499 million if it abandons the deal.
Goldman Sachs is the exclusive financial adviser to Texas on the deal.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
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