LSI Logic to buy Agere for about $4 billion
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LSI Logic Corp. , a maker of chips found in DVD recorders and hard drives, said on Monday it would buy Agere Systems Inc.  for about $4 billion in stock, broadening LSI's reach into the market for mobile phone chips.
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Dutch chipmaker NXP will buy  U.S.-based semiconductor developer GloNav, which specializes in  global positioning system (GPS) chips, for up to $110 million  in cash, it said in a statement on Friday.
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LSI's deal for Agere was unexpected -- and not greeted warmly.
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Ingersoll-Rand Company Ltd. IR.N said  on Monday it will buy the remaining 70 percent of Italian  lockmaker CISA SpA for about 200 million euros cash ($267.7  million) to expand its safety and security business.
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InfoWorld - German chip maker Infineon Technologies has agreed to buy Texas Instruments&#39; DSL Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)&#160;business in a deal expected to close by the end of the summer, the companies said.
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LSI hopes to use the deal to extend its market in storage and consumer electronics by adding Agere's expertise in storage, mobility and networking.
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By LAURENCE FROST  PARIS - Alcatel's purchase of U.S. rival Lucent Technologies Inc.
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(InfoWorld) - After a busy two yearsÂ reorganizing LSI, the new leadership of the company, which includes several former Intel executives, is ready to do battle in the competitive markets for storage and networking chips. LSI is one of the first major companies to finish reorganizing amid a broad consolidation in the chip sector caused by rising research and development costs. The rising costs means that size matters: Companies need to make enough money to keep up with higher costs for chip designs and upgrades. Development budgets are rising as the size of transistors and other parts on a chip shrink, said Jeff Richardson, executive vice president of the Network and Storage Products Group at LSI. The size of components on chips, and the spaces between them, has already hit 45-nanometers, a microscopic size thousands of times thinner than a human hair. Without the budgets to continue investing in the machines and research needed to continue the development of chip products, companies will wither. One of the reasonsÂ LSI acquired Agere SystemsÂ late last year is because the networking and storage chips made by the two companies are a much larger, more viable business combined than separate, said Richardson. LSI is already ready to move forward, which is saying a lot since it has continued to buy or sell companies and divisions for the past several months. The last major deal was theÂ sale of its mobile phone products business to Infineon TechnologiesÂ last month for $450 million, a deal that will likely give Infineon the size to compete for third place in the mobile handset chip industry. LSI sold off its consumer products division in July, signed contract manufacturing agreements to allow it to slough off factories and workers, and has bought two chip makers over the past year, including StoreAge Networking Technologies. So far, the company has pared its workforce by over a third to 6,000 people. "We're done with the major moves," said Richardson. He joined LSI two years ago with several colleagues from Intel, including Abhi Talwalkar, LSI's president and chief executive officer. Talwalkar used to be a vice president and co-general manager at Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, which includes storage and communications products. The group set changes in motion at LSI to make it more streamlined in terms of its product portfolio, and more powerful in its main business segments -- networking and storage. "The combination of the companies has already resulted in major design wins," according to Richardson, though he declined to elaborate. LSI and Agere shared a lot of synergies in storage and networks, which is why the deal made sense, he said. In networking, LSI is now focused on providing chips to telecommunications companies for TV services, broadband, and collaboration. Chips are needed for equipment used in advanced packet processing, advanced traffic management, content inspection, and digital signal processing. For the storage business, which includes hard disc drives, there are a host of new products either coming out or under consideration at the company, including chips for solid-state drives, Richardson said. The decision to sell its mobile phone arm wasn't easy, but LSI sees the market as a tough one undergoing consolidation. Two companies dominate in communications chips, Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, said Richardson, and there's an ongoing battle for a distant third place. Several major chip makers have opted out of the segment in recent years. For example,Â Intel agreed to sellÂ its communications and application processor business last year to Marvell Technology Group for $600 million. This year has seen a few deals, including the LSI-Infineon transaction and the purchase of Analog Devices' telecommunications chip products by Taiwan's MediaTek for $350 million in cash. "We believe there will be further consolidation," said Richardson. Â
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LONDON, August 23 (New Ratings) - ARM Holdings (ARM.ETR) has agreed to buy Artisan Components Inc (ARTI), a US-based provider of integrated circuit designing solutions, for about $913 million (Â£503.
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US consumer healthcare company Perrigo is to buy Israeli drug-maker Agis for $818m (Â£441.5m) in cash and stock. The deal will create a firm with annual sales of $1.
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Advanced Micro Devices Inc. said Monday it will pay $5.4 billion to acquire top graphics chip maker ATI Technologies Inc., as Intel Corp.'s biggest rival in the market for personal-computer microprocessors attempts to expand its product portfolio.
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(InfoWorld) - Taiwanese chip assembler Advanced Semiconductor EngineeringÂ (ASE) plans to invest $60 million in a low-end chip assembly company based in China. ASE's board of directors approved a plan to invest in Global Advanced Packaging Technology, a Shanghai company, ASE said Thursday. ASE will need approval from Taiwanese regulators to move forward on the investment due to strict regulations meant to keep Taiwanese technology from ending up in missiles and other military hardware aimed at the island by rival China. Taiwan and China remain enemies after splitting in 1949 amid civil war. Despite the strained relationship andÂ tough investment rules, China remains by far the favored destination for Taiwanese investment due to their shared language and culture, and China's lower costs and huge potential market. Currently, ASE has no chip assembly investments in China, despite the fact that earlier this year Taipei gave a green light to chip makers to invest in low-end chip assembly. Although the government announced it would allow such investments, not a single application has been approved by Taipei, and companies remain unsure of how to apply to regulators. Analysts say that the approval process remains very much subject to politics in Taiwan, due mainly to the rivalry with China. In related news, ASE said it will form a special committee to evaluate aÂ possible $5.5 billion dealÂ to be bought out by a consortium led by The Carlyle Group. So far, ASE has only received an indication of interest from Carlyle, not a formal offer. The deal could transform ASE into a U.S. company, where Carlyle is based, thereby allowing ASE to invest in China without asking Taipei for permission. China's growing electronics industry requires chips, and chip assembly factories nearby can help ensure quick placement inside gadgets. Carlyle's interest in ASE is also a sign of the times. There have been a string of private equity deals in the chip industry recently. A few months ago, Carlyle was part of a team that sealed a deal to buy Freescale SemiconductorÂ for $17.6 billion, while Koninklijke Philips ElectronicsÂ sold a majority in its chip unit to another group for around $10.6 billion. Â ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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Emulex will buy Sierra LogicÂ to build a bigger enterprise storage portfolio. Emulex said Tuesday it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Sierra Logic for $180 million to expand its position in the embedded storage components market.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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IRVINE, Calif. -- Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM) today announced that it has settled all outstanding litigation with Agere Systems Inc.
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Two private equity consortiums are   bidding to buy chip maker Freescale Semiconductor Inc. FSL.N   for about $16 billion, sources familiar with the matter said on   Monday.
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Archipelago Holdings, the owner of ArcaEx, the largest electronic stock market, is expected to buy the Pacific Exchange for about $50 million.
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Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c50021)  has announced the addition of "Computer  Hardware in France" to their offering.