Buyouts re-order analog rankings

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What will the analog rankings look like when 2016 is over?

Renesas Electronics has announced an agreement to acquire Intersil Corporation for $3.22 billion. Before that, Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) announced that it will acquire Linear Technology Corp. (LTC) for $14.8 billion.

And these deals, according to Semiconductor Intelligence, are expected to shake up the analog IC market.

Last year, IC Insights ranked ADI fourth among analog IC suppliers, followed by LTC at number eight and Renesas at number 20. Semiconductor Intelligence compared 2015's analog rankings to that of 20 years ago, and the firm discovered some interesting changes (Table 1).

__Table 1:__ *Only three names from the 1995 list are on the 2015 list: STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Analog Devices (ADI). (Source: Semiconductor Intelligence)*

Only three companies in last year's ranking are not tied to companies included in the 1995 ranking: Skyworks Solutions was formed in 2002 with the merger of Alpha Industries and Conexant’s wireless division, while Maxim Integrated moved up to number six in 2015 with over 10 times the revenue of 1995, thanks to its acquisitions of Dallas Semiconductor and Volterra, among others.

What will the analog rankings look like when 2016 is over? According to analysts at Semiconductor Intelligence, TI will remain number one with over $8 billion in analog revenue, while ADI will move up to number two with over $4 billion in revenue, including LTC even though the merger isn’t expected to be completed until 2017.

Infineon and Skyworks should be three and four, but there is a chance Skyworks could pass Infineon, while Maxim and NXP will remain at six and seven, according to the firm's newsletter. ON will add over $300 million in analog revenue with the Fairchild acquisition and move up one spot to number eight.

The ADI and LTC combination will open up a spot in the top 10 in 2016, which will be occupied by MediaTek, according to Semiconductor Intelligence.

Meanwhile, the proposed acquisition of Intersil by Renesas will lead to the further departure of two pioneers in the semiconductor industry. After the acquisition, Renesas Electronics will contain the remnants of five companies which began semiconductor research in the 1940s and 1950s: GE, RCA, NEC, Hitachi and Mitsubishi, according to Semiconductor Intelligence.