ON Semiconductor announced an all-stock acquisition of Synaptics, valued at $7 billion, and the stock dropped over 23% following the announcement, reflecting investor concerns.
The deal aims to integrate power, sensing, and connected computing for edge AI applications.
Investors in ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ON), or onsemi, went to sleep last night thinking they were holding a power and sensing chip company whose core automotive and industrial end markets were inflecting, while its AI data center revenue was booming and becoming significant for the company.
However, they woke up facing the prospect of becoming a technically integrated provider of power, sensing, and now connected computing, following the announcement of an agreement to buy Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA). Unfortunately, the initial reaction to the deal isn't positive, and onsemi has declined by more than 23% by 1 pm today.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now, when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks »
The all-stock transaction (1.35 shares of onsemi for every share of Synaptics) values the latter at $7 billion and "represents an approximately 19% premium to the volume weighted average closing prices of onsemi and Synaptics over the last 10 trading days," according to the press release.
Clearly, it's a deal based on the idea of technically integrating onsemi's power and sensing technology with Synaptics' connected computing solutions. Purely by way of example, this could involve integrating onsemi's power management and sensing technology into an electric vehicle, with Synaptics' edge AI processing to run inference models and make real-time decisions. Meanwhile, Synaptics control systems (the company is most famous for its touchpads) and wireless connectivity enhance the driver experience.
Image source: Getty Images.
Aside from investor concerns about the dilutive impact of the deal on onsemi and its price, there are probably two other concerns. First, while the two companies have end markets in common, such as automotive and industrial, Synaptics has significant exposure to mobile and consumer products, which onsemi does not.
Second, the deal marks a transformational change in onsemi's business, which carries execution risk and may take some time for investors to digest.
That said, the deal makes perfect sense in a world moving toward edge AI inference, and onsemi's management is trying to maximize the value it can obtain from it. As such, don't be surprised if the stock bounces from here as more details emerge.
Before you buy stock in ON Semiconductor, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and ON Semiconductor wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $382,359!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,201,390!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 883% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 205% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of June 26, 2026.
Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends ON Semiconductor and Synaptics. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.