A $30 billion merger is more evidence of the tech market's most dominant trend right now

#AnalogDevices has struck a deal to buy chipmaker #LinearTechnology, the companies announced on Tuesday. The deal values Linear Technology at $14.8 billion, or $60 per share. The value of the combined enterprise will be $30 billion. Shares of Linear Technology were halted for trade up about 29% at $62 per share after news of the deal was broken by Bloomberg. Analog Devices shares were up about 4%. Stocks across the semiconductor space were broadly higher on Tuesday, with notable gainers including Maxim Integrated (+5%), NXP Semiconductors (+4%), Microsemi (+4%), and Semtech (+3%). Texas Instruments, one of the closest competitors to a combined Analog-Linear, also jumped, with shares up more than 9%. On Monday, after the market closed, Texas Instruments reported earnings that beat expectations. There has been a frenzy of multibillion-dollar deals in the tech industry over the past 18 months, including #Intel 's takeover of #Altera, #Avago 's acquisition of #Broadcom, and #Dell 's $67 billion takeover of #EMC. More recently, Dutch chip-making company #ASML bought Taiwan's Hermes #Microvision for $3.1 billion, and #NXPSemiconductors sold its standard-products business to a group of Chinese investors for $2.75 billion.

http://www.businessinsider.com/linear-technology-analog-devices-merger-talks-2016-7

INTEL'S Next Merger Cloudera?

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) recently completed the purchase of Altera with the intent to integrate Altera IP into Intel processors to significantly grow Intel's data center and IoT businesses. Intel had partnered with Altera for several years to get to know the IP and the people. Only after this extended engagement did Intel decide to buy the company. This approach does not minimize the purchase price but it does dramatically increase the potential for successfully integrating Altera IP and personnel into Intel.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/3787186-intels-next-merger