Analog Devices tends towards making specialty integrated circuits, often used in very demanding, high-heat, high-accuracy, high-efficiency applications. Many AD

Analog Devices tends towards making specialty integrated circuits, often used in very demanding, high-heat, high-accuracy, high-efficiency applications. Many AD parts are analog interfaces or power-management related, and very expensive, often used in military or space applications. Maxim tends to make a bunch of almost generic odds and ends, are middle-to-low prices, with fairly large volumes. They compete directly against Texas Instruments for a lot of interface products. This acquisition is especially interesting in light of AD's (relatively) recent acquisition of Linear Tech, which was basically a consolidation of the high-performance low-volume integrated circuit market.