Chinese authorities have greenlighted US chip maker AMD’s planned USD 35 billion purchase of Xilinx. This clears the last major regulatory hurdle for this transaction, the WSJ reports. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation has conditionally approved the deal, which AMD and Xilinx had reached in October 2020.
The two companies had earlier received approvals from competition authorities in major markets except China, an AMD executive told analysts in December 2021.
In regulatory filings, AMD and Xilinx have acknowledged China’s approval and said they expected the deal to close this quarter. The companies are waiting for the US government to clear the transaction.
The Chinese antitrust regulator requires the merged entity to maintain or expand investments into R&D activities in China for core technologies. The merged entity must sell to Chinese customers on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, the regulator also said. These conditions would apply for at least six years, and the merged entity must report to authorities every six months on these commitments, the regulator added.
