Renesas buys US chip maker IDT for $ 6.7 billion

Renesas reports that the boards of directors of both companies have approved the acquisition. It is expected that this will be completed in the first half of the coming year, after permission from the necessary supervisors and the IDT shareholders. The Japanese company says that the acquisition wants to meet the ‘growing demand of high data processing performance ‘. In addition, it wants to grow in the area of ​​data centers and infrastructure, and strengthen its position in the field of industry and vehicles.

Reuters writes that the acquisition is mainly intended to increase the share in the market for chips for cars. . Renesas would hold 30 percent of the global market in this area and be in second place behind NXP. The news agency quotes Renesas-ceo Bunsei Kure, who said: “We were weak in the field of chips for wireless networks, which are needed for internet-of-things and connected vehicles. in house. ”

Founded in 1980, IDT is headquartered in California, San Jose. It is not the first American chip maker to be acquired by Renesas, the Japanese company took over Intersil in 2016 for an amount of 3.2 billion dollars. That acquisition rounded it off in February 2017. It wanted to focus on making car components.