AMDlinx—and now they are one

In October 2020 at the height of the Covid pandemic, AMD surprised the computer industry by announcing it would acquire FPGA inventor and maker Xilinx for $35 billion in stock. Xilinx was founded one year after Altera. In 2015, Intel acquired Altera for $16.8 billion, and its revenue at the time was $1.9 billion; Xilinx’s revenue was $2.4 billion. At the end of 2021, Xilinx’s revenue was $3.46 billion, and AMD reported $16.43 billion. Intel’s purchase of Altera was 8.8 times revenue whereas AMD’s purchase of Xilinx was 10.1 times revenue. Given Xilinx’s partnerships in wireless communications, automotive, industrial and