China's merger list skips Silicon Labs' $231 Texas Instruments buyout, leaving a 4% spread
SAMR cleared eight mergers in its September 21 to October 4 window, a $22 billion US chip deal among them, and published the list on October 15. The file that pays Silicon Labs holders $231 a share stayed off it, and the roughly 4 percent spread is what the wait costs.
Vincent Jiang · 2 min read
Eight clearances, and Silicon Labs is not on the list
On October 15, China's State Administration for Market Regulation, the antitrust authority known as SAMR, published its latest clearance list: eight mergers approved unconditionally between September 21 and October 4 1. Among them sat Skyworks Solutions' $22 billion purchase of Qorvo, a fellow US chipmaker, which closed October 5 1. The Texas Instruments+1.09% — Texas Instruments, up 1.09 percent today takeover of Silicon Labs+0.11% — Silicon Labs, up 0.11 percent today, the Austin wireless-chip company trading as SLAB on Nasdaq, was not on it. Holders waiting on the $231 close got the same answer they have collected since February: not yet.
$231 owed, $221.28 traded
The contract is plain. Signed February 4, 2026: $231.00 a share in cash, about $7.5 billion of enterprise value, no financing contingency, closing guided to the first half of 2027 2. The tape read $221.28 on the morning of October 16 3, and an independent German quote had the shares at EUR 197.50 on October 15, market value $7.4 billion 7. That leaves $9.72, about 4.2 percent, and every dollar of it is Beijing risk.
SLAB's best print of the past year sits $7.50 under TI's $231 offer
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| TI cash offer | $231 |
| 52-week high | $223.5 |
| Close, October 15 | $221.05 |
One review closed in May; the other never got a stamp
Washington finished in spring. Silicon Labs' own filing records the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period expiring at 11:59 p.m. Eastern on May 22, 2026, with other approvals outstanding 4. Beijing is the outstanding one. As of June 11, SAMR had yet to formally accept the merger filing 5. A September 10 Capitol Forum report, unanswered by both companies, said a phase-2 review was being readied after a Chinese company warned of higher prices and bundling 6. In that same regulator's September window, eight mergers cleared, one of them a $22 billion US chip deal 1.
Patience is priced into the contract
The patient read has evidence. SAMR is clearing chip deals unconditionally at speed, phase 2 is procedure more often than veto, and China has conditioned more semiconductor deals than it has blocked 5. The merger agreement pays Texas Instruments to wait, with a $499 million break fee and an outside date of February 4, 2027, that stretches to February 2028 5. The tape's verdict sits in the chart: a year's best print never came within $7.50 of the offer. Nordic Semiconductor, the Norwegian rival, is already shipping its cheapest radio into the wait 8. The tell now is the filing stamp: acceptance should pull the spread to a couple of dollars 5, and each new SAMR list is a dated reading. Until one carries this deal, 4 percent is the wage of waiting.
Deepdive
AI-generated from this story and its cited sources. Not investment advice.
