Amphenol Corp., a major network equipment supplier, today announced plans to buy most of rival CommScope Holding Co.’s business operations for $10.5 billion.
The deal was warmly received by investors. Shares of CommScope surged more than 86% while Amphenol is up 3.6%.
Amphenol is buying CommScope’s connectivity and cable solutions, or CCS, business, which accounts for more than two-thirds of its revenue. The unit makes networking cables for data centers. It sells both copper wiring and high-speed fiber-optic cables, which are ubiquitous in artificial intelligence clusters.
CCS also provides certain related equipment, notably optical distribution frames. Those are closet-like systems used to manage a data center’s fiber-optic cabling. They ease tasks such as linking different sections of a network with one another.
In addition to data centers, CCS supplies hardware for two other markets: the telecommunications and smart building segments. It supplies components for the outdoor equipment that service providers use to deliver wired internet. In smart buildings, CSS hardware powers network-connected devices such as access control systems.
Amphenol competes in many of the same markets as CommScope. Alongside data center networking cables, it sells specialized sensors for tasks such as measuring rain intensity. The company also makes antennas for cell towers, cars and other systems along with power management equipment.
“CCS’s broad portfolio of fiber optic interconnect solutions for the rapidly growing IT datacom market, including for artificial intelligence applications, is highly complementary to Amphenol’s already strong product offerings in this market,” said Amphenol Chief Executive Officer Adam Norwitt.
The acquisition will significantly boost Amphenol’s finances. According to the company, CCS is on track to end the year with about $3.6 billion in revenue. Amphenol expects the deal to become accretive to its adjusted diluted earnings per share within a year of closing.
CommScope, for its part, will use most of the proceeds from the deal to pay off its $9.4 billion debt load. The company will subsequently take on “modest leverage” in a move that is expected to leave it with a significant amount of cash on hand. CommScope plans to distribute the cash to shareholders within 60 to 90 after the transaction’s completion.
The deal comes a few months after the company sold another business unit to Amphenol for $2.1 billion. Andrew, as the unit is called, makes components for wireless networking devices such as Wi-Fi access points and 5G base stations.
Once the CSS deal closes in the first half of 2026, CommScope will refocus on its access network and Ruckus businesses. The former unit makes equipment for linking internet provider networks to customers’ homes. Ruckus, in turn, sells switches, wireless access points and software for managing them.
Photo: Pinknailpolish1/Wikimedia
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