AMD buying fellow chip maker Xilinx for £26.8bn

AMD is buying Xilinx for 35 billion dollars (£26.8 billion) in an all-stock deal that will combine the two Silicon Valley chip makers.

The deal puts AMD in a place it wants to be – competing more fiercely with Intel.

Xilinx stockholders will receive 1.7234 shares of AMD stock for each Xilinx share they hold, or approximately 143 dollars (£110) per share of Xilinx stock.

AMD stockholders will own about 74% of the combined company, with Xilinx stockholders owning approximately 26%.

The transaction will give AMD a strong portfolio of high-performance processor technologies, combining CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, Adaptive SoCs and deep software expertise to enable leadership computing platforms for cloud, edge and end devices.

The deal is expected to close by the end of next year. It still needs approval from shareholders of both companies.

Xilinx CEO Victor Peng said: “Joining together with AMD will help accelerate growth in our data centre business and enable us to pursue a broader customer base across more markets.”

AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su will lead the combined company as CEO.

Mr Peng will join AMD as president, responsible for the Xilinx business and strategic growth initiatives. At least two Xilinx directors will join the AMD’s board once the transaction is complete.

Shares in Xilinx fell nearly 2% before the market open on Tuesday, while AMD’s stock rose slightly.