Acquisitions are part of deal acceleration in Artificial Intelligence, Digital Clinical Research, and Observability Technologies
Marvell Technology, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Palo Alto Networks have each announced multi-billion-dollar acquisitions intended to advance their respective offerings in cloud infrastructure, clinical research, and cybersecurity. Marvell acquiring optical interconnect innovator Celestial AI, Thermo Fisher is expanding its digital clinical research capabilities through the purchase of Clario, and Palo Alto Networks is bolstering its artificial intelligence-driven security and observability suite with the acquisition of Chronosphere. The oldest of the target companies was formed in 2019.
These agreements are among the latest additions to the interactive Mogin Law AI Deal Table.
Marvell Tech Acquires Artificial Intelligence Startup in Multi-Billion-Dollar Cash and Contingency Deal
Semiconductor company Marvell Technology has agreed to acquire Celestial AI in a transaction valued at about $3.25 billion upfront, consisting of $1 billion in cash and roughly 27.2 million shares of Marvell stock. The deal also includes a performance-based earn-out of up to $2.25 billion in additional shares, contingent on Celestial AI reaching $2 billion in cumulative revenue by the end of Marvell’s fiscal year 2029. The acquisition is expected to close in early 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions.
Based in Santa Clara, Calif., Marvell Technology designs and develops a broad range of data infrastructure semiconductor solutions, including chips for storage, networking, processors, and security, which are used in data centers, cloud computing, enterprise networking, and automotive applications. The company is known for its innovations in high-speed connectivity and silicon-photonics, as well as its focus on enabling the next generation of artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure.
Also based in Santa Clara, Celestial AI was founded in 2020 by David Lazovsky, Preet Virk, and Michelle Tomasko. It is best known for its Photonic Fabric platform. This technology enables optical interconnects across chiplets* and racks at bandwidths up to 16 Tbps, delivering more than twice the power efficiency of copper while maintaining nanosecond-class latency and thermal stability. Marvell sees this as a critical step toward scaling AI chips and expanding its footprint in cloud connectivity, complementing its existing silicon-photonics roadmap.
The acquisition positions Marvell to compete more aggressively in the AI and data-center interconnect market. Its main rivals include Broadcom, which dominates networking and silicon photonics; Nvidia, with its NVLink and NVSwitch interconnects; AMD; and Intel, all of which are investing heavily in chiplet and optical interconnect technologies. Other specialized players in photonics, such as Coherent, Lumentum, Ayar Labs, Astera Labs, Lightmatter, and Avicena, are also pushing the boundaries of optical connectivity.
*A chiplet is a small, specialized integrated circuit designed to perform a specific function within a larger electronic system. This modular approach allows for improved performance, scalability, and efficiency in advanced computing applications such as AI and data centers.
Sources: Reuters; Marvell; TechCrunch; Celestial AI company profile; Bloomberg; Reuters; industry analysis reports.
Thermo Fisher Scientific Acquires Clario: Boosting Digital & Artificial Intelligence Clinical Research
Thermo Fisher Scientific, a global leader in life sciences tools and services, is enhancing its digital footprint through a deal to acquire Clario Holdings. Clario—formed in 2021 via the merger of ERT and Bioclinica—is a provider of endpoint data solutions for clinical trials. It supports electronic clinical outcome assessments (eCOA), medical imaging, wearable data capture, and more, playing a role in approximately 70% of FDA drug approvals and generating around $1.25 billion in annual revenue. Thermo Fisher will pay $8.875 billion in cash at closing, with additional earn-out potential that could push the total valuation to roughly $9.4 billion.
Thermo Fisher’s acquisition of Clario fits its strategy to become a comprehensive provider of high-quality data and analytical solutions throughout the drug development pipeline. The company expects the deal to boost earnings right away and take advantage of shared data insights, which fits with the growing trend toward digital clinical research.
Thermo Fisher ‘s competitors in the digital clinical data and life sciences space include IQVIA, LabCorp, ICON, PRA Health Sciences, Medable, and Signant Health – each offering services from data analytics to patient engagement platforms.
Sources: Thermo Fisher press release (Business Wire), PharmExec, Silicon Republic, ClinicalTrialsArena.
Palo Alto Networks Acquires Chronosphere: Enhancing Artificial Intelligence Era Observability
Palo Alto Networks, a leading cybersecurity and network infrastructure company, has agreed to buy observability platform Chronosphere for $3.35 billion in cash and replacement equity awards, with the deal expected to close in the second half of fiscal 2026. Founded in 2019, Chronosphere delivers a cloud-native observability architecture designed for artificial intelligence-scale workloads, reportedly garnering over $160 million in annual recurring revenue and benefiting from triple-digit growth.
Once integrated with Palo Alto’s AI-driven Cortex AgentiX platform, Chronosphere will enhance real-time visibility, autonomous issue detection, and remediation—addressing the demands of complex modern applications and AI workloads.
Palo Alto’s key competitors in expanded cybersecurity observability include CrowdStrike, Okta, Splunk, Datadog, New Relic, and Elastic.
Sources: Palo Alto press release (PR Newswire), Reuters (via U.S. News), Zacks Investment Research, GeekWire.