Analog Devices is close to an all-stock agreement to acquire Maxim Integrated Products, according to people familiar with the matter.

The semiconductor companies are talking about a deal that values San Jose, California-based Maxim at more than its current market capitalisation of roughly $17-billion. Norwood, Massachusetts-based Analog has a market value of $46-billion and also has a large office in the San Jose area.

The deal could be announced as early as Monday, though discussions could still fall apart, said the people, asking not to be named discussing private negotiations.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the negotiations.

Analog Devices is currently less than half the size of market leader Texas Instruments by revenue. While Maxim wouldn’t allow it to close the gap totally, it would broaden the range of products in the Analog portfolio, something that Texas Instruments has touted as helping to cement its dominance.

All three companies specialise in analogue and embedded computing components. Once a sleepy backwater of the industry, this segment has enjoyed a resurgence as the list of uses and customers has grown in recent years.

Analog chips convert real-world things like sound and pressure into electronic signals, and the rush to add automation to factory equipment, buildings and to move cars toward a world where they won’t need human pilots has stirred new demand. — Reported by Liana Baker and Ian King, (c) 2020 Bloomberg LP