Why did MaxLinear go all out to buy Exar?

MaxLinear deals seem to be shrouded in mystery – how and why did it take over the creator of MoCA Entropic, why then would it take over an Entropic rival in the G.hn division of Marvell, and finally what happened this week when it threw $700 million at buying out Exar. The truth is there is no mystery except why it took Exar so long since its formation in 1970 to reach the position it occupies today – a low revenue on a hugely rising margin, with much of its income coming from China, and many of these coming from deals with unnamed tier 1 agencies. Sometime in early 2016 the management at Exar seemed to have a brainwave, or…