Reports: Avago Technologies in talks to acquire Broadcom Corp.

San Jose, Calif.-based Avago Technologies Ltd., which has operations in Fort Collins and Longmont, is in advanced talks to acquire Broadcom Corp., according to reports published Wednesday by Reuters and the Wall Street Journal.

The deal would be the latest in a recent string of mergers in the semiconductor industry.

The Journal’s story said it isn’t clear what terms the companies are discussing or when a deal could be inked — if there’s one at all — but Broadcom had a market value of $28 billion as of Wednesday afternoon. Avago’s was about $34 billion.

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Shares of Broadcom rose 14 percent to $53.65 in afternoon trading, while Avago gained 6.4 percent to $139.66.

Broadcom, based in Irvine, Calif., makes chips for about half of the world’s tablets and smartphones. Broadcom had $8.4 billion in sales in 2014.

Avago designs, develops and supplies analog, digital and mixed signal chips geared toward the wireless-communications and enterprise-storage markets, according to its website. The company was founded in 1961 and is based in San Jose, Calif., and Singapore.

Avago has a campus in Fort Collins that employs about 1,300 people, and has about 80 people in Longmont, the result of its acquisition of LSI Corp.

Avago has reportedly reached out to several other semiconductor manufacturers, including San Jose-based Xilinx Inc., which has 200 software engineers and technical writers at its campus in Longmont.