Intel was at one point the biggest processor maker in the world with every other company a distant second. Those days are now long gone, and now there's a new report claiming Qualcomm, the current learning maker of mobile processors, has made Intel an acquisition offer.
The report comes from The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources. The report adds that a deal for Qualcomm to buy Intel is "far from certain" so it may not come to pass. Specific financial details of this offer were not revealed. There were previous unconfirmed rumors that Qualcomm was interested in purchasing some of Intel's chip design divisions.
Even if such a deal is announced, it would almost certainly come under the eyes of government regulators to see if it would violate anti-trust law. Qualcomm could have to sell off parts of Intel in order to pass regulatory muster.
Intel has seen its fortunes go way down in the last year, as many investors believe that the once dominate chip designer and maker missed out on the current AI revolution that's being led by other chip companies, most notably Nvidia. Earlier this year, Intel revealed that not only had its financial number missed its forecasts, but that it was going to lay off 15,000 of its employees by the end of 2024. That number represents about 15 percent of its workforce at that time.
Earlier this week, Intel announced plans to make additional changes to save money. That included pausing the plans for constructing two of its plants, along with turning it foundry business into a independent subsidiary of the company.
Qualcomm continues to be the top third-party processor for mobile devices. However, its been trying to boost its PC business as well. Earlier this year, it announced its Snapdragon X series of Arm-based processors made specifically for Windows 11 PCs. Most of the major PC makers are now selling notebooks with some form of Snapdragon X chip, including Microsoft with some of its Surface devices.
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