Financial Times (FT) reported on the 3rd (local time) that U.S. chipmaker Texas Instruments (TI) is in final talks to acquire chip design firm "Silicon Laboratories" for $7 billion (about 10 trillion won).
According to sources, the talks have progressed and the transaction could be finalized within days.
Silicon Laboratories, listed on the Nasdaq, has a market capitalization of $4.5 billion, making the currently discussed acquisition price a significant premium.
TI focuses on so-called "analog chips" used for power and signal control in industrial and automotive applications. It also makes chips for consumer electronics and is a key supplier to Apple.
Silicon Laboratories is a chip design firm for wireless devices used in the Internet of Things (IoT).
If the acquisition goes through, it will be the largest transaction since 2011, when TI acquired "National Semiconductor" for $6.5 billion
TI, which handles both design and manufacturing, received $1.6 billion in subsidies from the U.S. federal government in 2024 to expand production facilities in Texas and Utah.
In addition, in June last year it announced that it would invest more than $60 billion in seven plants in the United States. This was in response to the advanced manufacturing promotion policy of the Donald Trump administration.
The acquisition talks come as the semiconductor industry, amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, has entered a period of restructuring and M&A to secure a competitive edge or cushion shocks from technological change.
Last year, Japan's SoftBank Group acquired "Ampere Computing" for $6.5 billion, and private equity firm Silver Lake acquired 51% equity in Intel's "Altera" business unit.