Dialog Semiconductor, the Swindon and Reading-based microchip manufacturer and a major supplier to Apple, is to be bought by Japanese electronics company Renesas Electronics Corporation.

Renesas will pay €4.9bn for the company, which is an innovative provider of highly-integrated and power-efficient mixed-signal integrated circuits. Dialog employs more than 2,000 people, with 77 per cent working in engineering functions across 15 countries.

This includes about 250 people at its sites in Reading, Swindon and Edinburgh.