The merger wave sweeping the computer-chip industry is now engulfing the makers of the machines needed to crank out semiconductors.
Lam Research Corp. said Wednesday that it would buy KLA-Tencor Corp. for $10.6 billion in cash and stock. Within four hours, Western Digital Corp. announced a deal to acquire SanDisk Corp. for about $19 billion. The pacts added to what was already a record year for chip deals -- a total of $76 billion before Wednesday.
