logo
Qualcomm agrees €2.1bn deal for semiconductor firm Alphawave

Qualcomm agrees €2.1bn deal for semiconductor firm Alphawave

Irish Examiner8 hours ago

Qualcomm has agreed to buy London-listed semiconductor company Alphawave IP Group Plc for about $2.4bn (€2.1bn) to expand its technology for artificial intelligence.
The offer equates to about 183p per share for Alphawave, Qualcomm said in a statement on Monday. Alphawave shareholders can also opt to exchange their stock for 0.01662 shares of Qualcomm. The Alphawave board has unanimously recommended the deal.
The company makes high-speed semiconductor and connectivity technology that can be used for data centres and AI applications, two growth areas in the chip industry that are being driven by demand for products like OpenAI's ChatGPT. Alphawave, which held an initial public offering in 2021 at 410p per share, has consistently traded below that level.
Qualcomm has a large presence in Ireland with a research and development facility in Cork, employing more than 450 people.
Qualcomm had initially said it was considering an offer in April and the companies have been in talks since then.
Alphawave shares rose 2.9% to close at 149.2p on Friday. The shares had closed at 93.5p on March 31, the day before Qualcomm and Alphawave disclosed their talks.
Bloomberg

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

WPP chief steps down as advertising group struggles with rise of AI
WPP chief steps down as advertising group struggles with rise of AI

Irish Times

time4 hours ago

  • Irish Times

WPP chief steps down as advertising group struggles with rise of AI

WPP chief executive Mark Read is standing down from the UK's largest advertising group as it struggles with a near five-year low in its share price and an industry-wide upheaval caused by artificial intelligence. Mr Read's exit will end a more than 30-year career at WPP and leaves it looking for a new chief executive during one of the most turbulent periods for the industry. He will continue as chief executive until the end of the year while the board starts the search for a successor. Former BT boss Philip Jansen became chair of the group at the start of the year, sparking speculation about the future of Read. In an internal note to staff, Mr Read said 'there is never a perfect time to move on as CEO ... but this feels like the right time for me'. In a statement on Monday, Mr Jansen said Mr Read had 'played a central role in transforming the company into a world leader in modern marketing services'. READ MORE Read has sought to restructure and streamline the group's global operations and invest more in technology since taking over from Sir Martin Sorrell in 2018, but WPP's share price has halved during his tenure, taking its market capitalisation to about £6bn. Shares in WPP fell 1.3 per cent in early trading on Monday. People familiar with the move said it was Mr Read's decision to leave now, although he did not have a job lined up. He is expected to seek other roles in the tech, marketing or consumer industries. How to manage your pension in these volatile times Listen | 37:00 WPP last year lost its position as the world's largest ad agency by revenues to French rival Publicis, while its two largest US rivals – Omnicom and IPG – have announced plans to merge to create a single, North American advertising heavyweight. WPP is still Britain's biggest advertising group, with revenues of close to £15 billion (€18 billion) and more than 100,000 employees around the world. [ Advertising giant WPP sees 2023 revenue gains above analyst estimates Opens in new window ] Mr Read, who is 58 years old, took over from Mr Sorrell, who resigned after an inquiry into his workplace conduct. Mr Read has overseen the company as it has tried to reorientate its business to cope with the dominance of the advertising market by tech giants Meta and Alphabet. Social media and influencer content have become key marketing channels, while traditional advertising media such as TV have shrunk in importance. More recently, Read has pushed WPP to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in AI, which has threatened to shake up the advertising agency model by offering much quicker and cheaper ways to do labour-intensive creative and media planning work. More than 50,000 people now use WPP Open, its AI platform, to assist them with their work. Mr Read said in January that WPP needed to move on from a difficult period of restructuring and rebuild its network of businesses with AI at the centre. WPP last year sold its controlling stake in public relations group FGS to private equity group KKR for $767 million (€671 euro) in cash. In the internal note to staff, Read said the company 'needed to make many difficult decisions that were necessary to serve our clients better, simplify the company, build our culture and put WPP on a more solid financial footing'. He added: 'We have also lived through some of the most challenging external events of modern times, from the pandemic to the war in Ukraine, and navigated an increasingly polarised and difficult world ... However, I strongly believe that the future for WPP is a very positive one.' Media analyst Claire Enders said Read had initially been a 'steady pair of hands holding the ship together through hundreds of acquisitions and integrations', and then had overseen a 'complete simplification' as chief executive of the business. 'WPP has struggled against stronger headwinds than its peers, largely due to its UK history and listing,' she said. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025

Qualcomm agrees €2.1bn deal for semiconductor firm Alphawave
Qualcomm agrees €2.1bn deal for semiconductor firm Alphawave

Irish Examiner

time8 hours ago

  • Irish Examiner

Qualcomm agrees €2.1bn deal for semiconductor firm Alphawave

Qualcomm has agreed to buy London-listed semiconductor company Alphawave IP Group Plc for about $2.4bn (€2.1bn) to expand its technology for artificial intelligence. The offer equates to about 183p per share for Alphawave, Qualcomm said in a statement on Monday. Alphawave shareholders can also opt to exchange their stock for 0.01662 shares of Qualcomm. The Alphawave board has unanimously recommended the deal. The company makes high-speed semiconductor and connectivity technology that can be used for data centres and AI applications, two growth areas in the chip industry that are being driven by demand for products like OpenAI's ChatGPT. Alphawave, which held an initial public offering in 2021 at 410p per share, has consistently traded below that level. Qualcomm has a large presence in Ireland with a research and development facility in Cork, employing more than 450 people. Qualcomm had initially said it was considering an offer in April and the companies have been in talks since then. Alphawave shares rose 2.9% to close at 149.2p on Friday. The shares had closed at 93.5p on March 31, the day before Qualcomm and Alphawave disclosed their talks. Bloomberg

Gardaí restrict use of AI across garda network
Gardaí restrict use of AI across garda network

RTÉ News​

time2 days ago

  • RTÉ News​

Gardaí restrict use of AI across garda network

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) has been restricted across the garda network, gardaí have confirmed. In a statement, gardaí said the restriction relates to publicly available free-of-charge AI software. This would include popular chatbot tools like ChatGPT and DeepSeek. Gardaí said they do not have any AI solutions on the garda network to "produce files/reports". Any use of AI by gardaí is in line with the Government 'Guidelines for the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Public Service', gardaí added, and also adheres to any applicable legislative basis such as under the planned Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) (Amendment) Bill. Last month, the Government published new guidelines for the responsible use of AI in the public service. The framework advises against the use of free generative AI (GenAI) models. "Free GenAI tools are very accessible but because they lack suitable management and oversight pose significant risks for use in the Irish public sector," the guidelines state. "Any information given to a public GenAI tool could be used in training the model. Thus, we advise against their use in the public service," it adds.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store