Microchip to acquire Atmel - how do you feel about this?

[benSTmax]

So, in the end Atmel wants to be bought by Microchip ...

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/microchip-technology-announces-that-its-proposal-to-acquire-atmel-has-been-deemed-a-superior-proposal-by-atmels-board-of-directors-300203728.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-atmel-corp-m-a-microchip-tech-idUSKCN0UR1UJ20160113

Jan 22nd
This is the Microchip's strategy for Atmel (improve the gross-margin, the operating income and cut from R&D and probably others)
http://www.microchip.com/pdf/Atmel_Acquisition_Investor_Presentation_FINAL.pdf

[XFDDesign]

Kind of expected this. Atmel has been running razor thin margins on their uC business so it wasn't sustainable in the long term.

I still wish my work got Atmel first.

[benSTmax]

And Dave's episode #448 may become a prophecy rather than a joke ...
https://youtu.be/HWlpqSrabKs

[mikeselectricstuff]

I think they should prefix all Atmel part numbers with PIC, just to piss off the fanboys.

[MT]

Do the opposite not work equally well?

[Ian.M]

Because the PIC community doesn't have the cross-over with the Arduino community that the Atmel/AVR community does, the proportion of rabid fanbois seems to be much lower.

[benSTmax]

I think they should prefix all Atmel part numbers with PIC, just to piss off the fanboys.

... I never thought about this but I have to admit the fanboys will see red in front of their eyes if they will have to program a future "PICmega128" 

[dannyf]

The acquisition may not clear anti-trust concerns.

Unless the regulators deem both companies / 8-bit mcus so hopeless in competition vs. 32-bit chips that even the combined entity will not gain much power over their customers.

edit: from that perspective, if the deal is stopped on anti-trust basis, it would be a great piece of news for both atmel / microchip investors; if the fed offered its blessing, well, great for atmel investors, and terrible for microchip investors.

[XFDDesign]

The acquisition may not clear anti-trust concerns.

Unless the regulators deem both companies / 8-bit mcus so hopeless in competition vs. 32-bit chips that even the combined entity will not gain much power over their customers.

Take this as gossip as I cannot share my source...

But "a source" has pointed out that PIC is trying the buy so it can get a quick acquisition of an ARM product line. While I love the PIC32s, Microchip isn't thrilled with their performance as the industry loves the overly complex ARM parts.

[dannyf]

it can get a quick acquisition of an ARM product line.

I would be surprised by that - Microchip couldn't have been so stupid as to sign up an exclusive deal with mips. Buying Atmel to get ARM is too expensive than licensing it from ARM.

Microchip isn't thrilled with their performance

A couple years ago I was asked to look at a Microchip's presentation with investors when it should a survey on what people are working on for their next projects. PIC32 was right there in the top ranking, when compared vs. INDIVIDUAL ARM chips,

Microchip's PIC32 problems are exclusively theirs.

[MT]

Microchip to acquire Atmel - how do you feel about this?

Well i use ST chips mainly so i dont feel anything!.

Take this as gossip as I cannot share my source...
But "a source" has pointed out that PIC is trying the buy so it can get a quick acquisition of an ARM product line.

That sounds quite desperate!

While I love the PIC32s, Microchip isn't thrilled with their performance as the industry loves the overly complex ARM parts.

ARM is not overly complex it's ST manuals who are partly crap and because of that i feel butthurt!

[ajb]

it can get a quick acquisition of an ARM product line.

I would be surprised by that - Microchip couldn't have been so stupid as to sign up an exclusive deal with mips. Buying Atmel to get ARM is too expensive than licensing it from ARM.

If they were ONLY buying Atmel to get into ARM, sure, but Atmel is a lot more than that to Microchip.  They have a bunch of other product lines, and they're a direct competitor, so there's a lot of actual and strategic value to the acquisition.  Anyway Microchip have certainly attached a dollar value to getting Atmel's ready-made, already-on-the-market portfolio of ARM parts versus having to spin up their own ARM line from scratch, and that's certainly something that they're weighing.  Remember, it's not just the licensing cost to get an ARM line to market, it's the design and integration of all the peripherals, layout, validation, fabrication windup, marketing, and documentation, all of which have a capital cost as well as an opportunity cost in longer time-to-market.

[EEVblog]

And Dave's episode #448 may become a prophecy rather than a joke ...

The Force was strong with that prediction.

[mikeselectricstuff]

The acquisition may not clear anti-trust concerns.

How would that be an issue - there are plenty of other MCU companies out there so nowhere near a monopoly situation.
 

[coppice]

The acquisition may not clear anti-trust concerns.

How would that be an issue - there are plenty of other MCU companies out there so nowhere near a monopoly situation.

Not only are there plenty of MCU suppliers, none have a dominant position. The biggest MCU supplier, Renesas, only has about 20% of the market, and the barriers to entry are fairly low by semiconductor standards. Microchip and Atmel aren't even the biggest MCU suppliers in their segments of the MCU business. The other things Microchip and Atmel make don't have such a big overlap as their MCUs. What possible anti-trust issues could there be?

[EEVblog]

I think they should prefix all Atmel part numbers with PIC, just to piss off the fanboys.

+1

[VK3DRB]

It is not so bad if Microchip buys Atmel.

Microchip provides excellent service and support and tend to keep their ICs around forever. Atmel on the other hand has atrocious support (they don't bother answering emails) and provide warnings of products ceasing production as soon as a couple of weeks ahead (eg: The Qtouch debacle in 2008).

I program with both brands, and won't get into the technical pros and cons here. But as far as customer service and product availability is concerned, Microchip is a far better company. A buyout might be a big win for customers. Plus Microchip make some great peripheral ICs and power regulators.

If their micros start increasing a cost due to less competition, more players will enter the market over time. There is plenty of competition already out there in any case... .TI, ST, Cypress etc.

[benSTmax]

... and as expected, Dialog won't raise Microchip's bid. I guess the Dialog shareholders are quite happy to see Atmel go away from them.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/dialog-semiconductor-declines-to-raise-bid-for-atmel-1452805166
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-14/dialog-signals-exit-from-atmel-bid-saying-it-won-t-raise-offer

[EEVblog]

I couldn't resist based on the thread title:

[benSTmax]

I couldn't resist based on the thread title:

+1   

[AndyC_772]

I think if it means a Cortex-M0 or M3 device with a CTMU, then it's a good thing 

[benSTmax]

Being a user of micros from both of these companies, I have to admit some of the PIC peripherals are quite powerful.
Combine these with the Atmel micros and some really cool parts will emerge. The Atmel-only fanboys might get some gems ... but maybe prefixed with "PIC" for the part number 

[tom66]

The PIC16 architecture is getting a little silly, what with them now adding USB to a microcontroller that has only one working register and crazy paging rules. I wouldn't mind seeing a PIC16-style device (with all of the great PIC peripherals) but with an AVR single-cycle core at the heart & 16 working regs.

[benSTmax]

The PIC16 architecture is getting a little silly, what with them now adding USB to a microcontroller that has only one working register and crazy paging rules. I wouldn't mind seeing a PIC16-style device (with all of the great PIC peripherals) but with an AVR single-cycle core at the heart & 16 working regs.

AVR CPU & PIC peripherals would be a top-notch 8-bit micro family.

[free_electron]

I think they should prefix all Atmel part numbers with PIC, just to piss off the fanboys.

+1

and relabel all PIC with AVR.

AVR18F2450
PIC328