AMD acquisition of Xilinx barred by regulators, delayed until Q1 2022

AMD acquisition of Xilinx barred by regulators, delayed until Q1 2022

The acquisition of chip manufacturer Xilinx by AMD will be completed in the first quarter of 2022. Its realization has been delayed by a lack of approval from various competition regulators.

According to AMD, the 31 billion euro acquisition of Xilinx is delayed. Though AMD initially hoped to realize the acquisition by the end of this year, the company has not yet received approval from all relevant regulators. The acquisition is now expected to take place in the first quarter of 2022.

Regulators seem increasingly sceptical of acquisitions in the chip sector as of late. AMD isn’t the only one facing delays. Various competition regulators are still barring the acquisition of Arm by Nvidia.

FPGAs

With the acquisition of Xilinx, AMD gains control of a manufacturer of so-called Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). In contrast to traditional chipsets, FPGAs are dedicated chipsets that can be reprogrammed after manufacturing. This makes them suitable for rapid prototyping and emerging markets.

The chipsets are primarily used as key components for 5G networks in the telecom sector. Furthermore, FPGAs see use in the aerospace industry, data centers and automotive. The acquisition of Xilinx allows AMD to further compete with Intel, which already produces its own FPGAs.