Apple in ‘advanced talks’ to acquire Intel’s smartphone modem chip business: report

Apple is in “advanced talks” to acquire Intel’s smartphone modem chip business, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The deal, valued at $1 billion USD or more, could be closed as early as next week, reports The Wall Street Journal.

It’s important to note that these talks could still fall through. However, both companies have a great deal of incentive to come to an agreement.

As The Wall Street Journal notes, Apple has reportedly been planning to make its own modems for future phones, most notably those with 5G functionality. The goal is to become less dependent on supply from companies like Qualcomm.

So far, Apple has hired a variety of engineers from Intel and other companies while preparing an office for 1,200 employees in San Diego. Having access to Intel’s experienced workers and established infrastructure would certainly help its modem efforts.

Intel, meanwhile, has reportedly been losing as much as $1 billion annually due to its smartphone operations. Offloading this division to Apple would allow the Silicon Valley-based tech giant to focus on 5G for other connected devices, among other endeavours.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple and Intel have been in “off- and on-again talks for about a year.” These discussions reportedly broke down around the time Apple reached a multi-year supply agreement with Qualcomm, although they now appear to have resumed.

Source: The Wall Street Journal