China’s Tsinghua Unigroup has Apple (AAPL) supplier Qualcomm (QCOM) in its sights, planning to invest $47 billion over the next five years to leapfrog Qualcomm and become the world’s No. 3 chipmaker. And Tsinghua’s ambitions could find it swallowing up smaller chipmakers such as Maxim Integrated (MXIM), Micron Technology (MU) and Xilinx (XLNX). The state-owned investment group must outplay U.S. companies scrambling amid frenzied chip sector M&A
Two semiconductor stocks are showing some notable chart action today: Inphi (IPHI) and Xilinx (XLNX). Inphi broke out of a consolidation base Thursday morning in big volume, rising as high as 28.10. Shares have retreated to 27.10 in afternoon trading, so it’s not clear whether the stock will be able to close the session above the buy point. Inphi shares have risen 47% this year. The stock has a near-best IBD Composite Rating of 98 out of 99, while
Xilinx (XLNX) stock gapped up Thursday after the chipmaker late Wednesday reported fiscal Q2 earnings that beat Wall Street’s views by 2 cents, despite falling 23% vs. the year-earlier quarter. CEO Moshe Gavrielov said Xilinx was already climbing out of its “trough.” “I don’t see us returning to that previous peak, which I believe was in the March 2014 quarter, anytime soon,” he told analysts in the company’s earnings conference call. “I do expect