Avago's US$37b buy points to bigger deals

New York

AVAGO Technologies' purchase of Broadcom Corp represents the biggest technology deal of all time. It may not stay at the top for long. The US$37 billion transaction announced on Thursday eclipses the previous record-holder - the buyout of First Data Corp in 2007 for almost US$30 billion including debt.

As the supercharged growth the technology industry once enjoyed tapers off in some places, investors are rewarding companies for pursuing acquisitions. Buyers can afford to spend: cash piles are swelling, interest rates remain low and rising stock valuations give them a strong currency to use for dealmaking.

The Broadcom takeover may be just the beginning of super-sized tech mergers, not only among semico…