TL;DRAnalog Devices is acquiring Empower Semiconductor for $1.5 billion in cash to strengthen its power-delivery technology for AI data centres. The deal gives ADI access to Empower’s integrated voltage regulators, which can cut system power consumption by roughly 20%.
Analog Devices has agreed to buy Empower Semiconductor for $1.5 billion in cash, placing a major bet that the insatiable energy demands of AI data centres will keep chipmakers scrambling for better power-delivery technology.
The deal, announced on Monday, gives the Wilmington, Massachusetts-based chipmaker access to Empower’s integrated voltage regulators, which sit directly beneath AI accelerators and feed current vertically through the circuit board rather than routing it sideways. According to Empower, that design can trim roughly 20% of a system’s total power consumption, a figure that matters enormously when a single hyperscale facility can draw hundreds of megawatts.
“AI infrastructure is fundamentally reshaping how power must be delivered, with energy now the most persistent constraint to scaling next-generation systems,” said Vincent Roche, chief executive and chair of Analog Devices.
Roche added that Empower’s technology will expand ADI’s portfolio and help its customers “achieve the compute densities next-generation AI demands.” Tim Phillips, who co-founded Empower in 2014 and serves as its chief executive, will stay on to oversee integrated voltage regulator development within ADI.
