MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest mobile phone chip designer, yesterday said it would acquire local wireless chipmaker Ralink Technology Corp (雷凌) via a share swap to boost its technological capability in supplying advanced smartphone chips.
The move marks the latest investment by the Hsinchu-based chip company one day after announcing that it would invest US$20 million in a Chinese touch sensor maker, Goodix (匯頂科技), via its subsidiary Gaintech Co Ltd.
The acquisition of Ralink would help MediaTek “enhance its deployments in the smartphone area, which will be the main growing sector in the next few years, and we believe smartphones will need high-end Wi-Fi technological support in the future,” MediaTek president Hsieh Ching-jiang (謝清江) said.
Eric Chen (陳慧明), a semiconductor analyst with Daiwa Capital Markets, said MediaTek’s moves follow similar steps taken by its bigger rivals, Qualcomm and Broadcomm, to strengthen their mobile phone chip technological capability through mergers and acquisitions (M&As).
“Clearly this M&A will further strengthen MediaTek’s total solution for the low-end smartphone IC market with [the acquisition of] higher embedded Wi-Fi solutions,” Chen said in a research note yesterday.
It would also give “Mediatek a wider range capability and business opportunity in China’s three-in-one [integration of] networking market, Internet IC market and tablet PC IC market,” Chen said.
Besides, the deal would help MediaTek expand its products to notebook computers, tablet devices and other consumer electronics, of which Ralink holds a significant market share in terms of Wi-Fi chips, Hsieh said.
However, MediaTek does not plan to offer new chips for tablet devices, Hsieh said.
Based on the deal, one MediaTek share would be exchanged for 3.15 shares of Ralink — a price that Chen said would mean a very small premium.
MediaTek’s share price rose 3.14 percent to NT$328.50 yesterday, while Ralink’s rallied close to its 7 percent daily-limit at NT$103.50.
Chen maintained his sell rating on MediaTek, saying that the synergy would take a long time to realize.
After the transaction, Ralink would own a 4.58 percent stake in MediaTek. The deal is scheduled to wrap up in October.
Separately, Hsieh said the fatal earthquake that hit Japan last week did not seem to have a significant impact on the company’s operation and that it was keeping its first-quarter outlook intact.
Revenues are expected to decline by 7 to 14 percent this quarter from last quarter’s NT$22.68 billion (US$767.4 million), the company told investors last month.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) forecast that its wafer shipments this quarter would grow up to 7 percent sequentially and the factory utilization rate would rise to 75 percent, indicating that customers did not alter their ordering behavior due to the US President Donald Trump’s capricious US tariff policies. However, the uncertainty about US tariffs has weighed on the chipmaker’s business visibility for the second half of this year, UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said at an online earnings conference yesterday. “Although the escalating trade tensions and global tariff policies have increased uncertainty in the semiconductor industry, we have not
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS