Chip Buyout Renesas to buy Intersil

If you've been following along here for any length of time, you may remember in May of this year, and interesting headline about Intersil, and their laser heads up display. They had an answer to a technical question. They have been cooperating with Microvision -- to what degree, and how much currently, we don't know. The word was that a temperature specification had been achieved that would allow automotive laser Heads Up Displays. (It gets very cold and very hot in automobiles.)

So, this purchase is of interest. Not sure what it means yet, but these two companies seem to have some compatibilities -- and it will probably have an effect on Microvision. 

E_Week

Japanese chip maker Renesas reportedly is in the final stages of a deal to buy U.S. rival Intersil for about $3 billion as it looks to bolster its position in the growing automotive technology space.

Reports from numerous news sites this week said the company, which competes with the likes of NXP and Infineon and is seeing other chip makers like Intel and Nvidia pushing their way into the autonomous vehicle space, could announce the acquisition soon.

The deal would continue a consolidation trend in the semiconductor industry as chip makers buy rivals to build out their capabilities and address such emerging trends as self-driving cars, data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, the internet of things (IoT), mobility and the cloud. High-profile acquisitions in recent years include Intel buying programmable chip maker Altera for $16.7 billion, NXP acquiring Freescale for $12 billion and Avago Technologies grabbing Broadcom for $37 billion in a move to broaden its capabilities in such areas as IoT.

INTERSIL Website