Semiconductor Deals Rose 33.9% in 2026: Capital Markets Carried It

A general counsel choosing semiconductor law firms this year is buying into a sector that outgrew the deal market by a wide margin. Sartori & Partners data show 805 electronics and semiconductor deals in the latest settled 12 months, against 601 a year earlier, a rise of 33.9%. All deals rose 10.6% over the same windows. The work behind the sector's count is weighted toward securities offerings, and a real part of it is handled by lawyers in Hong Kong and Beijing. Both facts change which firms belong on a panel.

The gap is wide. Electronics and semiconductor deals rose 33.9% year on year, 3.2 times the 10.6% rise across all deals. Two neighboring sectors did not move with it. The count of technology and software deals held flat (+4.6%), 3,279 against 3,136. The count of automotive deals held flat (+2.8%), 800 against 778.

The calendar view points the same way. The sector logged 692 deals from January to October 2026, already above the 622 recorded in all of 2025. Earlier years rest on fewer reporting firms, so the yearly bars are read for the sector's direction, while the settled 12-month comparison against the market carries the weight.

For a company planning an offering or a deal, the practical point is capacity. A sector whose volume climbs this fast asks more of the same partners. Book the team before a filing window opens, and ask each firm how many live semiconductor matters its lead partner carries today.

Capital markets deals are 52.7% of electronics and semiconductor deals, against 25.7% across all deals. Each share counts deals of that type against all the sector's deals, including those with no type on record, so the types are read one at a time and never added up. Disputes and investigations run the other way, on 13.3% of semiconductor deals against 25.0% in the market. M&A sits near the market rate, at 20.5% against 19.3%.

Technology and software, the sector most buyers compare chips with, has a different center. M&A is its largest type, at 30.0% of its deals, with capital markets at 23.3%. Automotive sits in between, with capital markets on 30.6% of its deals. The practice records agree: in Sartori & Partners deal records, capital markets lawyers worked on 52.5% of semiconductor deals, against 26.4% across the market.

For a chip or electronics company, the securities bench is the core of the panel, not an extra bolted onto an M&A adviser. Ask a shortlisted firm which partners ran its issuer-side sector offerings in the past year, and whether they will staff yours.

Each city figure is the share of the sector's deals, among those with a known lawyer location, that had lawyers working on them from that city. One deal can count in several cities, so the shares overlap. New York comes first: lawyers there worked on 38.5% of semiconductor deals. Hong Kong is third, with lawyers there on 14.9%, ahead of San Francisco at 12.8% and London at 11.4%. Lawyers in Beijing worked on 9.9% of the sector's deals.

Neither Asian city appears in the technology and software top 10, which apart from London lists only US locations. New York is almost level across the two sectors, 38.5% for semiconductors against 38.7% for technology, so the Asian work sits beside New York rather than in its place. The difference shows in the US technology hubs. Lawyers in San Francisco worked on 12.8% of semiconductor deals against 18.1% of technology deals, and Palo Alto on 8.0% against 10.5%.

A panel staffed only from US offices will pass part of the sector's securities work to someone else. Ask each firm which partners in Hong Kong and Beijing work on its semiconductor deals, and whether one team runs both sides of a cross-border offering or hands it across time zones.

Value is disclosed on 24.4% of semiconductor deals, close to the 25.5% in technology and software. Where it is disclosed, the median semiconductor deal is $650 million, against $250 million for technology and software and $500 million for automotive. Sartori & Partners data count 362 distinct clients behind the sector's 790 deals in 12 months.

Fewer, larger deals mean each mandate weighs more. Ask for a staffing plan with named partners and a realistic timetable before discussing price, and compare it across at least two firms.

Latham & Watkins advised on the most electronics and semiconductor deals in 12 months, in the 61-100 band, followed by Davis Polk & Wardwell in the 41-60 band. The order differs from the market-wide list. Kirkland & Ellis ranks 3rd across all deals and 9th in the sector. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati ranks 3rd and King & Wood Mallesons ranks 6th in semiconductors, and neither is in the market's top 10.

Bands are ranges of deals, so the six firms sharing the 21-40 band are close in volume and their order says little. The list also does not show where each firm's sector work was done. Ask the firms on it how much of their semiconductor work ran through Hong Kong or Beijing before treating rank as coverage.

Plan for capacity first. Sector deals rose 33.9% while the market rose 10.6%, so the partners who run semiconductor offerings carry more sector work than a year ago. Start firm conversations before a filing window, not during it.

Weight the panel toward securities. Capital markets work appears on 52.7% of the sector's deals, so the lead firm's capital markets partners matter more than the size of its M&A group. Then test the Asian side: with lawyers in Hong Kong on 14.9% of semiconductor deals, a company with Asian investors or an Asian listing route should confirm which partners in that city and in Beijing will work the deal. Patent and litigation benches are a separate purchase, covered in our report on semiconductor patent litigators.