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According to a regulatory filing on Tuesday, a subsidiary of
Chinese chipmaker Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd increased its stake to
7.15 percent on Nov. 30, the day Dialog shares fell by 20
percent on a report that Apple may design its own
power-management chips.
As the purchases pushed Tsinghua's holding above 7 percent, they
triggered a compulsory filing. Anglo-German chipmaker Dialog
declined further comment.
Tsinghua Unigroup, which could not immediately be reached for
comment, has in the past been blocked on U.S. national security
grounds in its attempts to take over Western chip makers,
including Germany's Aixtron SE <AIXGn.DE>.
Its investment vehicle is now Dialog's largest individual
shareholder, having bought most of its stake on the open market
earlier this year, according to a source familiar with the
matter.
Dialog Semiconductor acknowledged for the first time on Monday
that Apple could develop its own battery-saving chips used in
iPhones, sending Dialog's shares down another 24 percent.
Tsinghua Unigroup also controls a company called Spreadtrum
Communications, a developer of mobile chipset platforms for
smartphones with which Dialog does business in China.
Tsinghua Unigroup, which bought Spreadtrum in 2013, has said it
wants to float the company next year.
Dialog shares recovered more than 5 percent on Tuesday, to trade
just shy of 25 euros. They have shed around a third in value
since Japan's Nikkei business daily reported last week Apple may
take power-management chip design for its iPhones in-house.
CEO Jalal Bagherli, acknowledging on Monday that Dialog might
lose the Apple business, also said there was no risk to existing
supply deals in 2018 and Dialog was in advanced work with Apple
on designing 2019-type products.
(Reporting by Douglas Busvine and Cate Cadell; Editing by Susan
Fenton)
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