US-based RF chips vendor Skyworks has announced plans to acquire Silicon Labs' infrastructure and automotive business for US$2.75 billion, highlighting its efforts to better explore huge business potentials from the segment of electric vehicles and other next-generation vehicles, according to industry sources.
Skyworks, strong in RF wireless modules and other compound semiconductor offerings, is also expected to accelerate its expansion into silicon-based semiconductors for power supply, 5G wireless infrastructure, data centers, optical data communications, smart home and other applications through the acquisition, the sources said.
Skyworks has continued to expand outsourcing of its RF and PA backend processing to partners in Taiwan including ASE Technology, Chipbond Technology and King Yuan Electronics, all of whom are expected to benefit more from the vendor's market shares expansion to be driven by the acquisition, the sources continued.
Taiwan's III-V semiconductor players including GaAs foundries Win Semiconductors and Advanced Wireless Semiconductor (AWSC), and epi-wafer supplier Visual Photonics Epitaxy are also expected to enjoy more business opportunities to arise from Skyworks expanding its presence in the field of next-generation vehicles with both its silicon-based and compound semiconductor offerings, the sources continued.
Skyworks is expected to ramp up backend orders for RF and PA chips for 5G and Wi-Fi 6 to Taiwan's partners in the next 2-3 years as its in-house packaging capacity continues to be overloaded, the sources said.
