Case Study
We queried 11 AI models about semiconductor brands. Companies acquired years ago still score 70+ out of 100.
$117 billion in acquisitions. The brands are gone. AI remembers.
$117B
Total acquisition value
6
Ghost brands measured
70+
Average AI score today
Data from 11 AI models. Week 02 of 2026.
Between December 2025 and January 2026, we asked 11 AI models to rate brands across hundreds of electronics categories. These acquired companies—some gone for nearly a decade—still rank among the top recommendations.
Scores represent average category strength (0-100) across all rated categories.
When both brands are rated in the same category, who scores higher?
AMD paid $49B. Xilinx still dominates 70% of head-to-head matchups.
Ten years later. Still a dead heat. AI hasn't forgotten Freescale.
ADI absorbed the brand better—but Linear still wins 38% of matchups, 8 years later.
Best absorption. Infineon successfully transferred AI perception to the parent brand.
In these categories, the acquired brand scores near-perfect—higher than most active companies.
We measured. We don't prescribe. Three interpretations:
The acquirer paid billions to consolidate brand equity. If AI keeps recommending the ghost brand, that equity wasn't transferred. The acquisition's brand value may have evaporated.
The acquired brand's AI presence is an asset, not a liability. If 70% of AI recommendations flow through the ghost brand, invest through that door. Keep the legacy content alive.
AI perception doesn't match market reality. Distributors know Linear Technology = Analog Devices. Someone profits from bridging that gap between what AI recommends and what's actually available.
AMD paid $49 billion for Xilinx.
AI still thinks Xilinx is a separate company.
Who owns that perception?
Get notified when we publish new acquisition perception research.
No spam. Just research drops.
We track 37,000+ brands across 11 models weekly. Find your ghost brands.
Methodology: CategoryRank queried 11 AI models (GPT-4o-mini, Claude, Gemini, Mistral, Cohere, AI21, xAI, Perplexity, DeepSeek, Qwen, Groq-Llama) weekly from December 2025 through January 2026. Each model rated brands on a 0-100 scale for category association strength. "Ghost wins" counts category/model pairs where the acquired brand scored higher than the acquirer. Acquisition values from public filings. Full methodology →