The technology sector is on course to end the year as the busiest industry for mergers and takeovers for the first time ever, after last week leapfrogging the healthcare sector on the back of a flurry of three multibillion-dollar deals announced in a single day.

On October 21, hard-disk drive maker Western Digital agreed to buy SanDisk in a deal worth around $19 billion, chip maker Lam Research announced a deal to buy rival KLA-Tencor for $11.5 billion, and software company SolarWinds said it was to be acquired by private equity firms Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo for around $4.8 billion.