A wave of consolidation continues to sweep through the semiconductor industry, due to the climbing costs of new chip-fabrication plants and increasing appeal of efficiencies at scale. The culmination? Broadcom’s (AVGO) record-breaking $100 billion bid for Qualcomm, which could create a third titan alongside Intel (INTC) and Samsung. But none of this happened overnight. Chipmakers have been consolidating for quite some time. Here’s a look at how the industry got here. Note: While some companies have been voracious acquirers, others like Nvidia (NVDA) have grown largely without dealmaking. So far, anyway.
Click to enlarge the timeline of semiconductor company mergers and acquisitions
A version of this article appears in the Dec. 15, 2017 issue of Fortune with the headline “Chipped Into Shape.”
