Qualcomm has reportedly explored the possibility of acquiring portions of Intel's chip design business, in order to boost its own product portfolio, according to "two sources familiar with the matter" reports Reuters.
The mobile-focused company has looked into buying bits and pieces of Intel's businesses, just when Intel is struggling in multiple ways and needs to generate cash, and sell off its businesses. It's like playing Monopoly, the game, but with absolutely massive technology companies.
The client PC business for Intel is of "significant interest" to Qualcomm executives according to one of Reuters' sources, but they are "looking at all of the company's design units". There are some pieces of Intel that Qualcomm isn't interested in, Intel's server segment making less sense for Qualcomm to acquire, another source with knowledge of Qualcomm's operations told Reuters.
Reuters reports that Qualcomm has "not approached Intel about a potential acquisition and declined to comment on its plans" while an Intel spokesperson said the company is "deeply committed to our PC business". Qualcomm declined to comment, obviously.
Intel might have just 'launched' its new Core Ultra 200 series "Lunar Lake" processors, but they won't be inside of laptops until September 24. Beyond that, the once strong Intel reported an absolutely disastrous Q2 2024 financial report, laying off 15% of its global workforce and now selling off chunks off its business to survive, and shelving plans on other products because it needs to claw back as much money and time as possible.
Now, you've got the vultures circling... Qualcomm is flying up high seeing it happen, with their Arm-based processors never going to penetrate the market like x86 processors... but Intel's client PC business? It's got a bird's eye view of that right now, because it knows if they don't buy it... who else will?
NVIDIA buying Intel's client PC business? Apple? Google? Microsoft? Interesting times ahead.