Current Events > Apple is buying Intel's smartphone chip business

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-in-advanced-talks-to-buy-intels-smartphone-modem-chip-business-11563830356

Apple Inc. is in advanced talks to buy Intel Corp. s smartphone-modem chip business, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that would jump-start the iPhone makers push to take control of developing the critical components powering its devices.

A deal, covering a portfolio of patents and staff valued at $1 billion or more, could be reached in the next week, the people saidassuming the talks dont fall apart.

Though the potential acquisition price would be a rounding error for companies valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars, a transaction would be important strategically and financially.

It would give Apple access to engineering work and talent behind Intels yearslong push to develop modem chips for the crucial next generation of wireless technology known as 5G, potentially saving years of development work. Apple has been working to develop chips to further differentiate its devices as smartphone sales plateau globally, squeezing the iPhone business that has long underpinned its profit. It has hired engineers, including some from Intel, and announced plans for an office of 1,200 employees in San Diego.

For Intels part, a deal would allow the company to shed a business that had been weighing on its bottom line: The smartphone operation had been losing about $1 billion annually, a person familiar with its performance has said, and has generally failed to live up to expectations. Though it would exit the smartphone business, Intel plans to continue to work on 5G technology for other connected devices.

Interesting deal.
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i wonder what proprietary shenanigans they will come up with now
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The inevitable Appletendo merger is moving ever closer.

Didn't Intel bail out of making smartphone chips years ago?
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So Apple intends to continue equipping its phones with crap modems?
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Bio1590 posted...

Didn't Intel bail out of making smartphone chips years ago?

They mostly just make the radios and associated chipsets, which they were trying to sell off three or four months ago.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/intel-gives-up-making-5g-modems/

This is weird. Don't they already make their own mobile chips and were looking to do the same for their computers soon?
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AvantgardeAClue posted...

Don't they already make their own mobile chips and were looking to do the same for their computers soon?

Buying someone else's foundry saves a step or two.