Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics has acquired printed circuit board (PCB) company Altium for $5.9 billion.
Founded in 1985, the Australia-based Altium provides automation software for designing printed circuit boards. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2024, pending approval from shareholders and regulatory bodies.
Altium is the third multi-billion purchase for Renesas, which manufactures chips for automotive companies such as Toyota and Nissan.
In 2016, the company bought chipmaker Intersil for $3.2bn, going on to acquire Integrated Device Technology for $6.7bn in 2018 and then Dialog Semiconductor for $5.9bn in 2021.
In January 2024, a month before announcing its acquisition of Altium, Renesas said it had agreed to a deal to buy US power semiconductor company Transphorm Technology for $339 million.
"As technology advances, the design and integration of electronic systems is becoming increasingly complex,” Renesas said in a statement. "Renesas and Altium, under a shared vision, aim to build an integrated and open electronics system design and life cycle management platform.”
Renesas was founded in 2010 when NEC’s chip division merged with Renesas Technology, itself the product of a merger between Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric’s chip operations.
