TI, National Semiconductor takeover analysis
1 min read
It's been a while since there has been a takeover on the scale of that involving Texas Instruments and National Semiconductor. Apart from the cost – $6.5billion – there's a substantial amount of products and an awful lot of people to be dealt with, not to mention production facilities.
According to TI, it has 30,000 products in its portfolio, while National has 12,000. Such acquisitions are often justified by claiming there is 'synergy' between two companies. That tends to be management speak for duplication that can be stripped out, with the benefits flowing to the bottom line. But, so far, it seems that TI is aiming to keep the National portfolio more or less intact. That's an interesting approach; both companies play in the power market, both play in analogue, both play in communications. It seems unlikely that, within those portfolios, there isn't significant overlap.
Similarly, TI claims the majority of National's 6000 employees will be retained. We'll see whether that's the case.
But the manufacturing aspect is likely to see the most rationalisation. National's Greenock plant has been teetering on the edge for some time now and is unlikely to survive. TI, meanwhile, has built a 300mm analogue super fab in Richardson, Texas, and recently bought another large fully equipped fab in Japan. What better way to provide throughput for these facilities than to bring in National's parts?
Swallowing National will push TI to number three in the global semiconductor rankings, but what kind of indigestion will it bring?
