As world goes online in pandemic, another mammoth chip deal

SAN JOSE, CALIF. » Advanced Micro Devices is buying Xilinx for $35 billion in an all-stock deal that will combine the two Silicon Valley chip makers and accelerate an already rapid-fire pace of mergers and buyouts in the industry.

The deal announced Tuesday puts AMD in a place it wants to be; competingmore fiercelywith Intel at a time when a global pandemic is driving demand for tech ever higher.

More Zoom meetings, more orders online, and more upgrades for companies trying to meet new demands of millions staying at home has led to a seemingly insatiable appetite for computer chips.

“Joining together with A MD will help accelerate growth in our data center business and enable us to pursue a broader customer base across more markets ,” Xilinx CEO Victor Peng said in a prepared statement Tuesday.

AMDandXilinx isahuge tie-up in a seasonofmassive buyouts for the semiconductor industry.

Just last month, Nvidia said it would buy Arm Holdings for up to $40 billion and set up an artificial intelligence research center in Cambridge, England, where Arm is headquartered.

In July, MaximIntegrated Products was snapped up by AnalogDevices for more than $20 billion.

Xilinx stockholders will receive 1.7234 shares of AMD stock for each Xilinx share they hold, or approximately $143 per share of Xilinx stock.