News Qualcomm fishes in Intel's troubled waters: Examines acquiring different pieces of Intel

[marees]

• Qualcomm has explored buying pieces of Intel’s design business, sources say
• Qualcomm is interested in Intel’s PC business, a source says
• Intel explores sale of various units ahead of a board meeting in September, sources say

Intel’s client PC design business is of significant interest to Qualcomm executives, one of the sources said, but they are looking at all of the company’s design units.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/qualcomm-has-explored-acquiring-pieces-intel-chip-design-business-sources-say-2024-09-06/

 

[Mahboi]

Qualcomm is interested in Intel’s PC business, a source says

They sure are interested in trying to get some of it.

 

[DrMrLordX]

It would be difficult for Qualcomm to snap up Intel's "PC business" (client) since so many of the designs share IP with the DCG unit.

 

[coercitiv]

@marees Why are the words "hostile" and "takeover" in the title of the thread?

 

[NTMBK]

That's not a hostile takeover. A takeover would be buying enough stocks on the open market to gain control of the entire company, not purchasing a single division in a deal negotiated with Intel management.

 

[marees]

@marees Why are the words "hostile" and "takeover" in the title of the thread?

That is how I understood this news.

As far as I can see, Qualcomm has not approached Intel for this initiative

 

[marees]

That's not a hostile takeover. A takeover would be buying enough stocks on the open market to gain control of the entire company, not purchasing a single division in a deal negotiated with Intel management.

So how would you term this initiative

 

[marees]

Changed the thread title.

Le me know if this needs to be changed further

 

[coercitiv]

That is how I understood this news.

Allegedly they're in discussions with Intel about purchasing parts of their client design business. Qualcomm declined to comment and Intel deny these discussions exist (which is normal), but the article is very badly written and fails to convey this clearly. I'll quote the part below:

Qualcomm has not approached Intel about a potential acquisition and declined to comment on its plans, an Intel spokesperson said. Intel is "deeply committed to our PC business," the spokesperson said.

Qualcomm declined to comment.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Qualcomm could've done themselves wonders by buying up the NUC division.

 

[Ghostsonplanets]

• Qualcomm has explored buying pieces of Intel’s design business, sources say
• Qualcomm is interested in Intel’s PC business, a source says
• Intel explores sale of various units ahead of a board meeting in September, sources say

Intel’s client PC design business is of significant interest to Qualcomm executives, one of the sources said, but they are looking at all of the company’s design units.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/qualcomm-has-explored-acquiring-pieces-intel-chip-design-business-sources-say-2024-09-06/

Urgh... This would be dreadful

 

[The Hardcard]

Intel would have to be in the last stages of drowning to sell the client PC business. Already water in the lungs. For all the other revenue and profits, defining, driving and dominating the PC market is its core identity. To be forced to completely walk away from it would be humiliating.

I don’t doubt there are discussions, but I am convinced that would be a last resort for Intel. Hundreds of times more shocking than IBM’s pullout.

 

[FlameTail]

What exactly comes under the "client PC design business"?

As I understand it, Qualcomm seems to be looking to buy a portion of the client PC design division, not the whole division

Also Qualcomm is probably not the only company who is exploring the idea...

 

[DrMrLordX]

What exactly comes under the "client PC design business"?

It's not clearly defined in the article, but based on Intel's own financial filings, that would be all the desktop and mobile CPU design teams, and presumably all the support teams that handle related software (stuff like XTU, some drivers/scheduler stuff)

 

[DavidC1]

Even if it doesn't materialize, the fact that there's news from a big source like Reuters suggest that Intel is in even bigger trouble than we thought. Complete dissolve of the company known as Intel is growing day by day.

Selling the client division? They could sell their dGPU division 100x before that could happen, and many are saying the dGPU division can't be sold.

I bet if it actually gets sold the former Intel's position will go to near zero, and AMD will have to somehow make up for all of it.

 

[DrMrLordX]

They could sell their dGPU division 100x before that could happen, and many are saying the dGPU division can't be sold.

Hmm, wonder why that is? Other than the fact that it seems married to their iGPU team, which would uh leave their client division in a bit of a pickle.

 

[sandorski]

Intel seems to have lost too much talent as it is. How long before they don't have enough Human resources to maintain parts?

 

[naukkis]

Selling the client division? They could sell their dGPU division 100x before that could happen, and many are saying the dGPU division can't be sold.

They are not selling profitable divisions. But they could very well sell their server division, Qualcomm might do fine with their server line after changing those non-performing Intel cores to Nuvia-based.

 

[jdubs03]

Clearwater forest and Diamond Rapids are going to be a huge step up compared to Sierra forest and Sapphire Rapids. I doubt they’ll forgo that.

 

[FlameTail]

Qualcomm’s Stock Slips 1.3% as Intel Shares Climb 1% Amid Acquisition Talks - techovedas

Qualcomm's stock dipped by 1.3% while Intel's shares rose by 1% following news of potential acquisition talks.

techovedas.com

It's affecting the stock!

 

[FlameTail]

So there's rumours that Apple's in-house modem development is going well. It will be deployed in iPhones starting from next year;

Kuo: Apple's 5G Modem to Rapidly Roll Out in iPhones Starting Next Year

Apple is rumored to have been working on its own 5G modem for iPhones since 2018, and it appears the chip will finally debut next year. Apple...

www.macrumors.com

Right now, Qualcomm is the sole supplier of modems for the ~200 million iPhones that Apple sells annually.

This is reportedly worth about $8 billion in annual revenue for Qualcomm (FYI Qualcomm's total annual revenue is $36 billion). This means if Apple switches all iPhone to in-house modems, it will wipe out almost a quarter of Qualcomm's revenue!

Qualcomm is of course expecting this, and their play to enter the PC industry is a means of diversifying. Acquiring a portion of Intel would be a further step in that direction.

 

[deasd]

Qualcomm’s Stock Slips 1.3% as Intel Shares Climb 1% Amid Acquisition Talks - techovedas

Qualcomm's stock dipped by 1.3% while Intel's shares rose by 1% following news of potential acquisition talks.

techovedas.com

It's affecting the stock!

Qualcomm is of course expecting this, and their play to enter the PC industry is a means of diversifying. Acquiring a portion of Intel would be a further step in that direction.

If both stock continue to perform like this in upcoming weeks and Quadcomm still either keep quiet or decline to comment, might be a sign that they have already in intial negotiation, although there's nothing set in stone yet.

These stories just bring down my attention on any Intel's upcoming product and watch if even part of these stories turn out to be true. I would rather Qualcomm buy the PC business and Intel's fab becomes either pure foundry or serve in datacenter only. Consumer market needs new blood and evolution.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah no way Intel sells their entire division and definitely not if it includes the actual chip design teams unless Intel's board has lost its mind and basically is going all in on AI and probably also is going to ditch their foundry division (this latter seems plausible, but then their chip design teams arguably become more important). I'd guess this pertains to product development (the teams that make the reference designs and does chipsets/motherboard and other for OEMs; its why I think they should have gone for the NUC division as it would play to their strengths and really set them up as the Windows version of what Apple has done), but most likely Qualcomm wants a way to quickly figure out the business contracts that has kept Intel operating as normal even when AMD has had clear advantages. If I were Intel's board I'd see if they could trade Gelsinger (who's business acumen should fit right in with Qualcomm since a large part of boths' successes are built on anti-competitive behavior) for access to their cellular modems. Heck, throw in Raja while they're at it since rumors are Qualcomm is considering dGPU.

Would that maybe contain the division that would be analogous to AMD's console/embedded/semi-custom? Maybe Qualcomm would want that type of client design chops, and it doesn't seem to be doing much for Intel, so might be likely to part with it, viewing it as getting rid of unsuccessful group plus it would theoretically cause more competition to AMD which should benefit Intel. I have to imagine anyone considering making a console is strongly looking at ARM, and AMD so far has done a poor job of offering anything compelling there (their lone one being lackluster Samsung chips).

It's not clearly defined in the article, but based on Intel's own financial filings, that would be all the desktop and mobile CPU design teams, and presumably all the support teams that handle related software (stuff like XTU, some drivers/scheduler stuff)

They could certainly use help in the driver side, but since its more the GPU drivers, not sure getting Intel's would be that beneficial to them. And not sure Intel would want to get rid of them since they're needed to keep developing their GPU, unless they ditch dGPU again, but even then the one part of that team I'd think Intel would want to keep would be the software/drivers (since it'll be needed for iGPU). And they seem to have done a commendable job of improving Arc.

Frankly though, this could be Qualcomm sowing some extra doubt for Intel's investors. Spread some uncertainty by making it seem like Intel has been shopping key parts of its business. The timing especially feels like this might be part of the play, as it happens right after the like lone positive news Intel has had for some time, that Lunar Lake (?) is actually good, offering AMD iGPU rivaling graphics, with ARM level efficiency. I don't doubt Qualcomm wants to buy parts of Intel's business, but not much of it makes sense I think.

 

[darkswordsman17]

So there's rumours that Apple's in-house modem development is going well. It will be deployed in iPhones starting from next year;

Kuo: Apple's 5G Modem to Rapidly Roll Out in iPhones Starting Next Year

Apple is rumored to have been working on its own 5G modem for iPhones since 2018, and it appears the chip will finally debut next year. Apple...

www.macrumors.com

Right now, Qualcomm is the sole supplier of modems for the ~200 million iPhones that Apple sells annually.

This is reportedly worth about $8 billion in annual revenue for Qualcomm (FYI Qualcomm's total annual revenue is $36 billion). This means if Apple switches all iPhone to in-house modems, it will wipe out almost a quarter of Qualcomm's revenue!

Qualcomm is of course expecting this, and their play to enter the PC industry is a means of diversifying. Acquiring a portion of Intel would be a further step in that direction.

As always, believe it when you see it. IIRC rumors were Apple was making big strides on an LTE modem before they abandoned it completely. Or was that from when they'd bought Intel's modem business? I forget, did Apple use Intel modems back in the 4G/LTE time, or was that when Intel was developing 5G (which they then sold that division to Apple? Then started their own internally again, which I think has since been canned again?)

Qualcomm certainly should be expecting that, simply because Apple had already both shown they want their own in house control over basically everything, and they also specifically were seeking to get away from Qualcomm. Potentially its bigger than that, as Apple will very likely integrate modems into the M series as well, and wearables (whatever future versions of Vision Pro or other wearable glasses - I expect we'll see Apple pivot to making something like the Meta Ray Bans; and of course watches but even headphones as Apple builds out AI and bolsters Siri, it'll become more viable to do a good chunk of things without a phone). In fact, its entirely possible Apple has been holding off on some product categories specifically because they've been waiting for their own component development (modem being a key one, low power stuff and the high granularity tracking are probably good enough for Apple at this point).

They are not selling profitable divisions. But they could very well sell their server division, Qualcomm might do fine with their server line after changing those non-performing Intel cores to Nuvia-based.

I think its more likely Intel sells consumer. Server/enterprise is any chipmaker's core business at this point, and its been Intel's most stable business, although if they can't keep their production numbers (which was a big reason its been difficult for AMD and ARM to make big inroads against them, because Intel just had so much production capacity) because their fabs can't keep up, they could definitely start to run into issues there (and sounds like they are having exactly those issues). Maybe not as big of a deal if they buy older process capacity at TSMC, but then others could do the same thing).

 

[naukkis]

I think its more likely Intel sells consumer. Server/enterprise is any chipmaker's core business at this point, and its been Intel's most stable business, although if they can't keep their production numbers (which was a big reason its been difficult for AMD and ARM to make big inroads against them, because Intel just had so much production capacity) because their fabs can't keep up, they could definitely start to run into issues there (and sounds like they are having exactly those issues). Maybe not as big of a deal if they buy older process capacity at TSMC, but then others could do the same thing).

Why would they sell their profitable parts that can survive their fabs failing? Their server instead is relying their fab execution - and if it fails whole server division is useless.