Rumors of acquisitions in the chip world have been circulating this week. Field programmable logic company Xilinx Inc has been mentioned as a possible buyer for Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s Vantis programmable logic division, which is said to be up for sale (CI No 3,592). AMD turned the division into a wholly-owned subsidiary two years ago, to give it the flexibility and focus of a small company. Xilinx is due to report its fourth quarter and year-end figures on Thursday April 22. With strong bookings for programmable logic devices driven by communications and networking equipment sales, both Xilinx and its competitors, such as Altera Corp, are expected to post healthy figures.
Meanwhile, reports from the Semi Semicon Europa 99 show currently being held in Munich, Germany, suggest that Novellus Systems Inc may be considering the acquisition of fellow fabrication equipment manufacturer Lam Research Corp. Last year Lam was forced to cut 1,200 jobs in a major restructuring bought about by the general slump in demand.
