GlobalFoundries is considering acquiring United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) in a plan called "Project Ultron." The two companies want to work together to make older types of semiconductor nodes. Both companies have moved away from making the newest, most advanced chips. Instead, they focused on making older nodes (28 nm and larger) better and cheaper, keeping them from competing directly with giants like TSMC, Intel, and Samsung. This type of market is mature nodes, which is the main target of automakers and commercial electronics (fridges, washing machines) that aren't CPUs or GPUs, where the latest nodes aren't essential. If GF and UMC merge, they could control about 28% of the mature node market, making them stronger against growing rivals. The possible team-up comes as Chinese companies like SMIC are putting more money into making similar chips, creating more competition.

The combined companies would have factories in the United States, Germany, Singapore, Taiwan, and China. Spreading factories across regions could help them keep making chips even if problems happen in one region, be it some tense geopolitical situation or sanctions/tariffs. It might also appeal to customers who worry about supply chain problems. Money issues could make the deal tricky. GlobalFoundries is worth about $20.41 billion but would need to borrow money or get more funding from its main investor, Mubadala, to make the purchase. Government approvals are another big hurdle. Taiwan might not want a foreign company controlling UMC, while China might only approve if the new company promises to keep or add factories in China. UMC has Fab 12X in China, producing 25,000 wafers per month. All of this is happening as GlobalFoundries prepares for new CEO Tim Breen to start by the end of April. He must handle these merger talks while keeping the company running smoothly in a challenging mature node market. Meanwhile, UMC has denied merger talk, but Tom's Hardware claims it has reviewed documents of the merger assessment.

Global technology powerhouse Lenovo Group Limited (together with its subsidiary, "Lenovo" or the "Group") has announced that its subsidiary has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Infinidat Ltd. ("Infinidat"), a global provider of high-end enterprise storage solutions. The acquisition is part of Lenovo's growth strategy to bring differentiated technology solutions to market. This move will further strengthen Lenovo's enterprise storage offerings globally and underscores a commitment to delivering innovative storage solutions that meet the evolving needs of modern data centers.

With the strong storage solutions and research & development capabilities of Infinidat, the transaction will create strategic synergies with the Group's infrastructure solutions business and enterprise storage capabilities.

In a recent report from Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter, it seems that Qualcomm is now rethinking its acquisition of Intel because of financial and regulatory issues, which indicates that the potential purchase of Intel is, in some way, losing speed. Undoubtedly, the prospective arrangement has its flaws which are of a big nature. Let us not forget that Intel's debt burden of approximately $50 billion further complicates the company's financial picture. Further to the merger, regulatory approvals would be involved, which would be a long process and, therefore, very difficult. Qualcomm is currently thinking about whether to buy only a certain segment of Intel's business, possibly the division of the company that produces semiconductor chips, instead of the whole company.

Intel's CEO, Pat Gelsinger, has made it clear that they are not planning to split up the company. During an interview in November, he talked about his determination which he described as "energy and passion" to move the organization in the right direction and their strategy of "being different and at the same time, better together." Intel is leveraging other options to better its financial standing as recently this week, the company closed a $7.86 billion financing deal which is part of the US CHIPS Act, among the $3 billion from Pentagon contract confirmed this summer. Intel is still on the lookout for possibilities to do away with some of its divisions; Altera is one that it seems to be most willing to sell. Lattice Semiconductor has made a statement that it is ready to take over Altera and it would not be a surprise if Qualcomm also enters the bidding game. Qualcomm's goal is to generate an additional $22 billion in annual revenue by 2029, however, CEO Cristiano Amon said in a Bloomberg interview last week that "right now, at this time, we have not identified any large acquisition that is necessary for us to execute on this $22 billion."

This is not an April fool, as Qualcomm has apparently approached Intel with a takeover bid, according to the Wall Street Journal. The news follows earlier rumours about Qualcomm having eyed the opportunity to buy parts of Intel's client PC business, especially the parts related to chip design. Now it looks like Qualcomm has decided it might as well give it a go and take over Intel entirely, if the WSJ's sources can be trusted. It's still early days though and no official offers appear to have been proposed by Qualcomm so far and it doesn't appear to be a hostile takeover offer at this point in time. As such, this could turn out to be nothing, or we could see a huge change in the chip market if something comes of it.

It's worth keeping in mind that Intel's share price has dropped by around 57 percent so far this year—not taking into account today's small jump for Intel—and Qualcomm's market cap stands at over twice that of Intel's at 188 vs 93 billion US dollars. Even if Intel was to agree to a takeover offer from Qualcomm, there are several antitrust hurdles in multiple countries to get around for the two giants as well. This is despite the two not being direct competitors, but with Qualcomm recently having entered the Windows laptop market, the two are at least competing for some market share there. It's also unclear what Qualcomm would do with Intel's x86 legacy if it acquired Intel, as Qualcomm might not be interested in keeping it, at least not on the consumer side of its business. Time will tell if this is just some advanced speculation or a serious consideration by Qualcomm.

CD Projekt has responded to this weekend's rumors of a possible takeover bid by Sony's gaming division (Interactive Entertainment) - a leaker well known within the Destiny 2 community suggested that the (publicly traded) Polish games publishing and development group was on the cusp of signing up as first party entity. CD Projekt president and CEO Adam Kiciński addressed this matter in a company earnings meeting, he affirmed that no change in operations was incoming: "Nothing has changed in our end...So, I can repeat what we have been saying throughout the years - CD Projekt is not for sale. We want to remain independent. We have, I believe an excellent strategy. Not easy to execute, for sure, but it's very exciting to follow our own path. So it's a pure rumor." One of the company's PR representatives, Ola Sondej, also denied (on Twitter) that acquisition negotiations were in-progress: "Yah, we're not in such talks with Sony."

The earnings call also resulted in an announcement of The Witcher 3 selling more than 50 million copies - pointing to it being the ninth highest-selling game of all time. The Witcher franchise (consisting of three main line titles) has achieved lifetime sales of more than 75 million units. Despite this good news, CD Projekt has experienced a decline of 20% in net sales (for Q1 2023) - it seems that a reliance on continued revenue from older games can only go so far. Half of the main development team is committed to supporting Cyberpunk 2077, and finalizing a DLC campaign - Phantom Liberty, although CD Projekt has not yet set a firm release date for this extra content. Preview code is destined to make an appearance at this year's Summer Game Fest (June 9 to 10). Multiple Witcher games are in the pipeline, as well as a Cyberpunk sequel.

There were rumblings late last week about China's competition regulatory bodies giving Microsoft the go ahead for its proposed takeover of the Activision, Blizzard & King games publishing group. The crowd-sourced content site Seeking Alpha was the first online outlet to break the news last Friday - the author had learned from capital market firm - Dealreporter - that China's State Administration for Market Regulation had granted unconditional approval for the $68.7 billion bid, following the conclusion of a "Phase 3" investigation. The latest judgement arrived only a few days after the EU Commission's approval of the deal.

Microsoft has chosen to make an official announcement about this verdict - and has today released statements to several gaming news outlets, including GamesIndustry.biz and Eurogamer: "China's unconditional clearance of our acquisition of Activision Blizzard follows clearance decisions from jurisdictions such as the European Union and Japan, bringing the total to 37 countries representing more than two billion people. The acquisition combined with our recent commitments to the European Commission will empower consumers worldwide to play more games on more devices." Microsoft's next challenge sits with the US government's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) - a final deliberation is due this August.

The Sky UK news network has gathered intel from industry and government sources about an industry event that is due to take place next week at a very famous location - 10 Downing Street - the residence of the UK's Prime Minister. Sky News has been informed that Microsoft has been invited to attend the showcase by the UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) industry organization - best described as the main trade body for the nation's games and interactive entertainment sector. The American technology behemoth is expected to display and demonstrate their Xbox gaming product range in front of top politicians and key entertainment industry figures. There is no mention of representatives from Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) being invited to attend in a similar capacity. The timing of this UKIE organized event (to take place on April 26) is highly controversial as it will coincide with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority's statutory deadline to deliver a Phase-2 verdict on Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regulatory body has already delivered a provisional approval of the aforementioned deal, but stated that it required more time to investigate the potential for irregularities in competition within the cloud gaming sector. The Phase-2 verdict, due to be delivered next week, is anticipated to include the antitrust watchdog's finalized judgement on cloud gaming market affairs. Sky's insider sources in the city of London have speculated that Microsoft could face a humiliating situation at the 10 Downing-hosted party, if by coincidence the CMA changes its opinion on the Activision Blizzard takeover bid. If the competition regulator stays consistent with its (earlier) provisional decision, Microsoft could be criticized for its extensive courting of government organizations - not only in the UK, but around the world.

Today Japan's Sega Sammy Holdings Incorporated declared its intention to fully acquire Finnish development studio Rovio Entertainment Oyj in a buyout valued at a cool $776 million. The Helsinki-based developer, responsible for creating the Angry Birds video game franchise, has agreed to Sega Sammy's terms - and Rovio share values have climbed as a result of this announcement. The deal is expected to be finalized in the late summer or early autumn of this year, and signals an ambition on Sega's part to gain prominence in the mobile gaming world. Rovio had previously turned down a proposed takeover by Playtika - an Israeli company specializing in digital entertainment - for $735 million, late last month.

Angry Birds was the first mobile game to be downloaded one billion times, according to figures released by Rovio, so Sega has acquired a solid intellectual property that has also expanded into the movie world (two animated features) and endless merchandising avenues (toys, clothing and other accessories). Commenting on the buyout, Haruki Satomi, President and Group CEO, Representative Director of Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. said: "Among the rapidly growing global gaming market, the mobile gaming market has especially high potential, and it has been Sega's long-term goal to accelerate its expansion in this field."

Japan's competition regulator, Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), yesterday issued a press release in which it announces an approval of Microsoft's proposed $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard. The JFTC's review has concluded and their members have: "reached the conclusion that the transaction is unlikely to result in substantially restraining competition in any particular fields of trade." This represents another regional victory for Microsoft, and follows last week's approval of the deal by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The JFTC has informed both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard that a cease and desist order will be not be issued, thus completing its investigation.

The timing of this new development is raising eyebrows - in last week's Senate Finance Committee, several US Members of Congress raised concerns about Sony's "monopoly" over the Japanese gaming market. The Japanese government was also accused of being complicit in its inaction and has: "allowed Sony to engage in blatant anti-competitive conduct through exclusive deals and payments to game publishers." Games industry watchdogs have questioned why another rival console and games company, Nintendo, was not brought up as subject matter in the debate. Microsoft has dedicated considerable resources into getting its proposed deal approved by international antitrust watchdogs, and has even offered to expand the Activision Blizzard games library onto Nintendo hardware platforms.

NVIDIA's $40 billion takeover of Arm Holdings plc from SoftBank, got a shot in the arm, as three major licensees of the IP came out in support of the bid. These include Broadcom, MediaTek, and Marvell Technology Group. This development is key for NVIDIA to fight the perception built up by a rival faction, that the democratized nature of the Arm IP would get lost if a chipmaker like NVIDIA owns it. This rival faction is primarily led by Qualcomm.

It's interesting to note the individual backers of the NVIDIA takeover. There is nothing but love between Broadcom and Qualcomm, especially after the former's failed bid to acquire the latter. MediaTek is a major smartphone and IoT SoC maker, dominating the low-cost and mainstream smartphone segments. Marvell is big in datacenter and storage IP. Each of the three are results of huge IP consolidation over the past decade.

SiFive, one of the hottest new semiconductor start-ups specializing in performance RISC-V processors, has received an offer for acquisition from Intel, for USD $2 billion, according to a Bloomberg report, citing sources close to the deal. SiFive was last valued at $500 million in 2020, when it was raising funds. SiFive is potentially benefiting from NVIDIA's ongoing acquisition of Arm, as the company has the ingredients to whip up high-performance processors based on the open-standard RISC-V machine architecture. Both SiFive and Intel declined to comment on the Bloomberg story.

Electronic Arts has reportedly expressed interest in taking over UK-based game developer Codemasters, the studio behind the official Formula One-licensed F1 series; DiRT series, and other hit motorsports franchises. EA comes from the legacy of Need for Speed, and is possibly eyeing the prestige of the F1 license that comes with Codemasters, besides the studios innovations and expertise with race simulation. In doing so, EA has gatecrashed the £725 million take-over bid by Take-Two Interactive, announced in November 2020. EA will reportedly formalize and disclose its competing bid for Codemasters later today (December 14, 2020), which is naturally expected to be higher than that of Take-Two.

UPDATE: EA really swung out of the gates with a baton made of stylishly compacted bills, and took the prize home. The company has announced it has reached an agreement with Codemasters' Board of Directors to purchase the company for $1.2 billion.

Adding to today's Ubisoft-related news, a report via Polygon has placed the company as having finally bested Vivendi's hostile takeover attempt. if you'll recall, this is an on-again, off-again "love" affair from Vivendi towards Ubisoft, and was based on the fact that vivendi controlled the biggest stake in Ubisoft shares than any other shareholder, at 27.27%.

I say was, because Vivendi's share of Ubisoft is being divested by the former, following a deal that was signed between Vivendi and Ubisoft. The way this was done was as follows: Ubisoft itself is buying back as much as 8.1% of its shares from Vivendi from 2019 through 2021. Guillemot Brothers SE - which represents Ubisoft's founding Guillemot family - is buying an extra 2.7% of the company in a cash transaction with Vivendi. The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan - an independent organization that administers pensions for about 318,000 teachers in Canada - is acquiring a 3.4% stake, and Tencent (the Shenzhen, China-based company that is the world's largest gaming company by revenue) is buying an additional 5% of the company.

French media conglomerate Vivendi has been amassing Ubisoft shares over a course of two years. The company is the biggest shareholder at the moment owning approximately 26% of Ubisoft's shares. By French accounting law, Vivendi is obligated to make a mandatory bid once their shareholder percentage surpasses the 30% mark. Earlier this year, the French giant made it clear that the hostile takeover would happen before the year ends. It won't be their first rodeo, since they took over Gameloft not so long ago. The gaming sector is the second largest in the content industry after all, so you can't hardly blame Vivendi for wanting a bigger piece of the pie. However, business plans do change over time. According to Vivendi's recent third-quarter financial report, the company has postponed the Ubisoft takeover for at least another six months.