Infineon’s acquisition of IR boosts Europe’s power play
1 min read
Over the last five years or so, Infineon has been rumoured to be poised to acquire a number of companies, but smoke was never accompanied by fire. On the list were companies such as NXP, Freescale and STMicroelectronics. But in what appears to be a break from tradition, it has acquired International Rectifier for $3billion with hardly a breath of intrigue. Only at the very last moment did the whispers of the deal emerge and, even then, many commentators identified Fairchild as the target.
The move seems to have received general approval and, on the face of it, appears to be complementary. Infineon has generally focused on higher end power devices, whilst IR took a strategic decision some years ago to focus on the smaller end of the market. Meanwhile, both companies are looking to the future. Infineon has developed a power device manufacturing process using thinned 300mm wafers, whilst IR is one of the leading developers of GaN on silicon based power technologies.
In the end, such deals are done for the benefit of shareholders and the bottom line. In their official announcement, the companies noted 'the integration of International Rectifier will generate economies of scale through optimisation of the combined entity's operating expense structure'. IR has a number of facilities around the world, the second largest of which is in South Wales, so does this imply closures?
Financial moves aside, the deal will provide much more of a 'one stop shop' for power products and will boost the concept of Europe leading the development of power technology.
