MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it is to create a new TV chip business group in as it moves to consolidate MStar Semiconductor Inc (晨星半導體) after clearing the final hurdle from China to proceed with the NT$112 billion (US$3.65 billion) merger.
Hsinchu-based MediaTek’s announcement came after Chinese Ministry of Commerce in February lifted its years-long ban on the company’s full integration with MStar, a deal that was announced in 2012.
In August 2013, China approved MediaTek’s acquisition of MStar on the condition that the two fabless semiconductor companies continue to operate independently for three years amid concerns that the merger would hamper competition in the Chinese market.
China is the last country to give its nod to the deal after South Korea, Germany, the US and Taiwan.
MediaTek commands about 50 percent of China’s mobile phone chip market, while MStar is the world’s biggest TV chip supplier.
“The regrouping plan is part of the company’s broader restructuring efforts,” MediaTek deputy spokesperson Jessie Wang (王巧潔) told a media briefing at the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
“The regrouping will not have any impact on shareholders’ interests,” Wang said.
Based on the company’s plan, MStar is to be divided into three parts — TV chips, set-top box chips and touch sensor design.
MStar and MediaTek’s TV chip design teams are to be integrated in January next year to form a new TV chip business group.
MediaTek has two other business groups: wireless, the company’s core business, which develops mobile phone chips; and intelligent, which designs emerging chips for automobiles, artificial intelligence, application-specific ICs and Internet-of-Things.
MStar’s set-top box chip team is to join MediaTek subsidiary Ili Technology Corp (奕力).
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