A $35bn mega-merger strengthens a quiet chip duopoly

Tech dealmakers had a quiet 2023. S&P Global, a financial-data firm, reckons that total spending on technology mergers and acquisitions reached its lowest level in a decade. Big tech mostly sat on the sidelines, as it fended off trustbusters. This year began on a louder note. On January 10th Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a business-software giant, snapped up Juniper Networks, a maker of telecoms gear, for $14bn. Less than a week later Synopsys, an American maker of programs for chip designers, splurged $35bn on Ansys, a computer-simulation company.