Renesas to acquire chipmaker Intersil for $3.2 billion

Japanese chipmaker Renesas has signed a deal to acquire US chipmaker Intersil. The acquisition involves an amount of 3.2 billion dollars, approximately 2.8 billion euros. Regulatory and shareholder approval is still required.

The acquisition should be completed in the first half of 2017, Bloomberg writes. With the takeover, Renesas wants to focus further on making automotive components in the first instance. The company has already cut jobs and closed factories in the past to make this switch possible, the news agency said. According to Renesas itself, the acquisition is also an opportunity to focus on the internet-of-things in addition to car components.

The Japanese company was founded in 2010 by the merger of NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology, a joint venture of Hitachi and Mitsubishi. For Renesas, 75 percent of the current turnover comes from the sale of chips. Customers include Toyota, Nissan and Ford. In 2014, the company was just short of the top ten chip sellers worldwide.

Intersil in California focuses on energy management, including chips that regulate the voltage in hybrid and electric cars. However, 89 percent of Intersil’s revenue comes from analog devices.