Qualcomm is interested in acquiring Intel, which would mean a huge turn in the world of chip production.
On Friday afternoon, The Wall Street Journal reported that Qualcomm had approached Intel about a possible acquisition. While negotiations are still uncertain, such a deal would represent a huge shift, as Intel was once the world’s most valuable chipmaker, largely thanks to its x86 processors, which for years outsold Qualcomm’s Arm-based chips in areas outside of phones.
The New York Times also confirmed the news, but added that Qualcomm has yet to make an official offer. If the deal does go through and pass regulatory approval, it would be a huge win for Qualcomm, which returned to the desktop processor market this year in part as part of Microsoft’s AI PC strategy. However, Intel has been in an increasingly weak position in recent years: although some of its businesses are still profitable, the company announced major layoffs, a change in strategy and a 15% workforce reduction in August after posting a loss of $1.6 billion.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said at the time that all non-essential work would be shut down and the chip manufacturing business would be outsourced. This division used to be one of Intel’s strengths against competitors such as AMD, which does not have its own manufacturing capacity and relies on Taiwan’s TSMC for its silicon.
Recently, Intel has also partly needed TSMC to produce its most advanced chips as it tries to rebuild its own manufacturing capacity. The company’s 18A manufacturing process also ran into problems, while competitors such as AMD also faced challenges but successfully clawed their way back into the market, especially with the help of gamers. At the same time, Intel has been left behind in the game console market and has reportedly lost the chance to participate in the future PlayStation 6.
Many of Intel’s problems can be traced back to silicon technology leadership, not just manufacturing woes or profits. The company is not yet a major player in the AI server chip market, which is dominated by Nvidia and even outsold by smaller players like AMD. And Intel’s attempts to produce its own GPUs have so far failed to impress gamers and content creators.
Meanwhile, Intel has twice overhauled the way it makes laptop chips to fight the growing threat from Qualcomm, AMD and Apple, particularly in terms of battery life and integrated graphics advantages. The new Lunar Lake chips coming out in October are expected to change that.
Source: www.pcwplus.hu
