---
title: "Silicon Labs beats earnings; Texas Instruments' $7.5 billion deal gets a 40% inventory build"
description: "The earnings beat reads like an accelerating business two quarters from a $7.5 billion handover, but the same 10-Q shows Silicon Labs' own inventory climbing three straight quarters while the channel sits empty and operating cash flow halves. Q4 decides whether the build was buffer or pull-ahead."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Chips"
published: 2026-11-14T16:11:16.167Z
modified: 2026-11-14T16:11:16.167Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/silicon-labs-beats-earnings-texas-instruments-7-5-billion-deal-gets-a-40-inventory-build
language: en
keywords: "Silicon Labs, Texas Instruments, Earnings, Semiconductors, Mergers And Acquisitions"
---

# Silicon Labs beats earnings; Texas Instruments' $7.5 billion deal gets a 40% inventory build

> The earnings beat reads like an accelerating business two quarters from a $7.5 billion handover, but the same 10-Q shows Silicon Labs' own inventory climbing three straight quarters while the channel sits empty and operating cash flow halves. Q4 decides whether the build was buffer or pull-ahead.

*The quarter flatters the chipmaker [Texas Instruments](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/texas-instruments) agreed to buy for $231.00 a share. The 10-Q filed the same day shows inventory up 40% in nine months, a channel scraped empty and operating cash flow halved, and only the fourth quarter can say which reading is real.*

## The beat is real, and so is the build

[Silicon Labs](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/silicon-labs), the Austin maker of low-power wireless chips for smart-home, industrial and medical devices, [reported fiscal third-quarter results on November 10](https://scanx.trade/stock-market-news/companies/silicon-laboratories-q3-results-adj-eps-1-05-beats-estimate-sales-up/55892091) that beat twice over: revenue of $250.9 million, up 21.8% year over year and 3.6% above the $242.1 million consensus, and non-GAAP earnings of $1.05 a share against $0.84 expected [1]. GAAP net income swung to $8.9 million from a $9.9 million loss a year earlier, and medical revenue set a quarterly record, up 48% from the second quarter and more than 300% from a year earlier [2].

## The same-day filing is the first full look TI gets

Because the company has suspended guidance ahead of its sale, [the 10-Q filed November 10](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1038074/000103807426000035/slab-20261003.htm) is the first full look at the business Texas Instruments agreed to take possession of [3][4]. The balance sheet tells a second story. Inventories ended the quarter at $133.4 million, up from $95.6 million at the start of the year, after builds to $103.2 million in April and $123.3 million in July; days of inventory now sit at 122, up from 113 on January 3 [3][4].

*Chart: **Inventory grew 40% this year while revenue grew 20%** Line chart comparing Silicon Labs quarterly revenue with quarter-end inventories across three fiscal quarters plus the January 3, 2026, balance-sheet date, showing inventories rising 40% while nine-month revenue rose 20%.*

*Revenue by fiscal quarter and inventories at each quarter-end, $ millions. Q1 and Q3 figures and inventory balances from Silicon Labs Form 10-Qs filed May 5 and November 10, 2026; Q2 revenue from the company's Q3 2026 release via MLQ.ai. No Q4 2025 revenue shown: the January 3, 2026, column is a balance-sheet date, not a quarter. [2][3][4][6]*

Nine-month operating cash flow fell to $37.2 million from $87.4 million a year earlier [3][6]. The cash flow statement shows inventories alone consumed $37.8 million of it, the largest working-capital drag on a list that also includes receivables and prepaids [3].

*Chart: **Revenue has risen every quarter; operating cash flow fell to minus $14.5 million in Q2** Column chart of Silicon Labs revenue against operating cash flow for eight fiscal quarters from Q4 2024 to Q3 2026, showing steady revenue growth while quarterly operating cash flow swings between a $48.1 million high and a $14.5 million deficit.*

*Revenue and operating cash flow by fiscal quarter, $ millions. Figures from Silicon Labs' quarterly SEC filings, retrieved 14 November 2026; the first nine months of fiscal 2026 produced $37.2 million of operating cash flow against $87.4 million a year earlier. [3][7]*

## The channel is empty, the warehouse is not

At its customers the company reports the opposite: distributor inventory at a multi-year low and end-customer stock near record lows [2]. Both camps can quote the same filing. Texas Instruments, which agreed on February 4 to pay $231.00 a share in cash, about $7.5 billion all-in, and expects roughly $450 million of annual synergies from pulling Silicon Labs' manufacturing onto its own fabs, gets a clean handover story: an empty channel means nothing was stuffed into it, and backlog is converting [2][5][6].

## The skeptics' math: inventory grew twice as fast as sales

The opposing reading, raised in [close coverage of the filing](https://www.vlsi.kr/en/silicon-labs-q3-2026-flash-en/), is shipments pulled ahead of a closing, and the arithmetic feeds it: revenue grew 20% in nine months while inventory grew 40% [3][6]. The stock closed November 10 at $221.80, a 4.2% spread to the offer, which prices completion as close to a given [6].

## What is new since October, and what settles it

The spread has been on this network's radar since October, when the open questions were Beijing's review and a gap twice this size ([our October 8 piece](https://theinference.org/article/silicon-labs-9-06-spread-to-texas-instruments-now-hinges-on-beijing); [October 16](https://theinference.org/article/china-s-merger-list-skips-silicon-labs-231-texas-instruments-buyout-leaving-a-4-spread)) [3]. What is new is the filing itself, and its own words carry the burden: inventory rose "in order to minimize potential supply disruptions and meet forecasted future demand" [3]. The fourth-quarter report, due before the close, settles it: revenue has to digest the warehouse, or buyers of the spread end up owning the inventory risk.

Sources: 1. scanx.trade, Silicon Laboratories Q3 Results: Adj. EPS $1.05 beats estimate, sales up 21.8%, November 14, 2026 — https://scanx.trade/stock-market-news/companies/silicon-laboratories-q3-results-adj-eps-1-05-beats-estimate-sales-up/55892091 2. [MLQ.ai](https://mlq.ai/news/silicon-labs-revenue-rises-22-to-251-million-on-record-medical-sales-as-it-awaits-texas-instruments-takeover/), Silicon Labs revenue rises 22% to $251 million on record medical sales as it awaits Texas Instruments takeover, November 11, 2026 — https://mlq.ai/news/silicon-labs-revenue-rises-22-to-251-million-on-record-medical-sales-as-it-awaits-texas-instruments-takeover/ 3. SEC EDGAR, Silicon Laboratories Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 3, 2026, filed November 10, 2026 — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1038074/000103807426000035/slab-20261003.htm 4. SEC EDGAR, Silicon Laboratories Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 4, 2026, filed May 5, 2026 — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1038074/000103807426000020/slab-20260404.htm 5. [Chip Dispatch](https://chipdispatch.com/articles/silicon-labs-swings-to-profit-on-record-medical-sales-ahead-of-ti-takeover), Silicon Labs Turns Profit Ahead of $7.5B TI Takeover, November 11, 2026 — https://chipdispatch.com/articles/silicon-labs-swings-to-profit-on-record-medical-sales-ahead-of-ti-takeover 6. VLSI Korea, Silicon Labs Q3 Revenue Up 22% With a GAAP Profit, but Its Own Inventory Builds While the Channel Empties, November 12, 2026 — https://www.vlsi.kr/en/silicon-labs-q3-2026-flash-en/

## Takeaway

The beat is real and so is the build: $133.4 million of inventory, up 40% in nine months, sits on the balance sheet Texas Instruments inherits, and the fourth-quarter report decides whether it was a buffer or demand pulled forward.

## Sources

1. [scanx.trade, Silicon Laboratories Q3 Results: Adj. EPS $1.05 beats estimate, sales up 21.8%, 14 November 2026](https://scanx.trade/stock-market-news/companies/silicon-laboratories-q3-results-adj-eps-1-05-beats-estimate-sales-up/55892091)
2. [MLQ.ai, Silicon Labs revenue rises 22% to $251 million on record medical sales as it awaits Texas Instruments takeover, 11 November 2026](https://mlq.ai/news/silicon-labs-revenue-rises-22-to-251-million-on-record-medical-sales-as-it-awaits-texas-instruments-takeover/)
3. [SEC EDGAR, Silicon Laboratories Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 3 October 2026, filed 10 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1038074/000103807426000035/slab-20261003.htm)
4. [SEC EDGAR, Silicon Laboratories Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 4 April 2026, filed 5 May 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1038074/000103807426000020/slab-20260404.htm)
5. [Chip Dispatch, Silicon Labs Turns Profit Ahead of $7.5B TI Takeover, 11 November 2026](https://chipdispatch.com/articles/silicon-labs-swings-to-profit-on-record-medical-sales-ahead-of-ti-takeover)
6. [VLSI Korea, Silicon Labs Q3 Revenue Up 22% With a GAAP Profit, but Its Own Inventory Builds While the Channel Empties, 12 November 2026](https://www.vlsi.kr/en/silicon-labs-q3-2026-flash-en/)
7. [Silicon Labs, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 14 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001038074)


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Silicon Labs beats earnings; Texas Instruments' $7.5 billion deal gets a 40% inventory build — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/silicon-labs-beats-earnings-texas-instruments-7-5-billion-deal-gets-a-40-inventory-build