NXP to Buy Freescale for $11.8B; Combined Company Will Be Worth Over $30B

Dutch chipmaker NXP said Sunday it agreed to buy its smaller rival Freescale for nearly $12 billion. The deal will create the biggest supplier of microchips to the automotive industry. The merger will create a combined company worth over $30 billion. Freescale makes microprocessors and microcontrollers for cars and industrial equipment. NXP also makes chips for cars but has benefited recently from selling chips that help smartphones communicate with other devices nearby, allowing for increasingly popular mobile payments. Both companies' share prices have risen sharply in the past year as industrial companies have been designing more communication and sensing technology into their equipment to gather more data and allow for more automation. Freescale shares are up nearly 60% over the past 12 months, while NXP shares are up more than 50%.

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