NVIDIA receives Chinese approval for Mellanox acquisition, nears close
NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) said it has received approval from China’s State Administration for Market Regulation of its planned purchase of Mellanox Technologies (NASDAQ: MLNX). Following similar approval from the European Commission and Mexico and the expiration of the waiting period under U.S. antitrust laws, the company says it has received all necessary regulatory approvals for consummating the transaction, which it plans to do on or about April 27, 2020.
NVIDIA announced an agreement to purchase Mellanox March 11, 209 for $125 per share in cash, or $6.9 billion (see "NVIDIA to buy Mellanox"). The deal will pair NVIDIA’s computing expertise with Mellanox’s high-performance interconnect technology. The company expects the new assets will be immediately accretive to non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP EPS, and free cash flow.
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, and Yokneam, Israel, Mellanox Technologies specializes in interconnect technology for Ethernet and InfiniBand applications. Its offerings include network and multicore processors, network adapters, switches, cables, software, and silicon. These include active optical cables and optical transceivers. The fact that the company was the subject of an acquisition has not dampened its own M&A pursuits; the company announced March 3, 2020, that it had reached an agreement to buy network intelligence (NI) and security technology provider Titan IC. The company bought silicon photonics pioneer Kotura in 2013, but stopped research into 1550-nm silicon photonics in January 2018 (see “Mellanox to buy silicon photonics developer Kotura” and “Mellanox ends 1550-nm silicon photonics work”).
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.