SAN FRANCISCO—Microchip Technology Inc. said Monday (March 14) that its $3.8 billion acquisition of rival Atmel Corp. has cleared regulatory review in the U.S. and Germany and is on track to close in the second quarter.

Microchip (Chandler, Ariz.) said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission cleared the transaction on March 11 and that the German Federal Cartel Office cleared it on Feb. 26. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) is the only agency still reviewing the deal from an anti-trust perspective, Microchip said. The firm added that it anticipates receiving approval from the KFTC.

The deal is also still being reviewed by the French Ministry over French internal security and defense business matters, Microchip said. Atmel maintains operations in France and formerly operated a fab there and sells parts to the French military.

A special meeting of Atmel stockholders, to be convened for the purpose of voting on the transaction, is scheduled for April 1, Microchip said.

Microchip announced in Januarythat its unsolicited bid to acquire San Jose, Calif.-based Atmel for $8.15 per share was accepted by Atmel’s board of directors. The offer trumped a previously accepted bid from UK-based Dialog Semiconductor plc.

Microchip's share of the microcontroller market (in gray), assuming the acquisition of Atmel closes. Source: IHS.

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The bidding war over Atmel emerged as part of an ongoing wave of unprecedented consolidation in the semiconductor industry. The value of semiconductor industry acquisitions announced last year topped $105 billion, more than six times the annual average for deals over the previous five years, according to market research firm IC Insights Inc.

Microchip’s deal to acquire Atmel is expected to vault Microchip into the No. 3 position among microcontroller vendors by annual sales, ahead of Infineon AG and STMicroelectronics NV, according to Gartner Inc.

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