Reality check
At the end of its third quarter [
PDF] of its fiscal 2024, the three months to June 23, Qualcomm had $7.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents at its disposal and just over $23 billion in total assets. That means Qualcomm, best known for its cellular modems and Snapdragon mobile processors, is almost certainly looking at a stock-for-stock transaction. As of writing, Qualcomm's market cap is $188 billion, just more than double that of Intel's at $93 billion.
Is this from the same gossips who were wrong about Altera and Mobileye or the DoJ subpoenaing Nvidia?
www.theregister.com
The WSJ suggested this possible takeover might also include selling off some of Intel's assets to others to make the acquisition more manageable. It probably would have to for Qualcomm to stomach the deal, financially and strategically speaking. And even if Intel's board agreed whatever offer may emerge, getting regulatory approval – persuading the US, UK, EU, and others that gobbling up more semiconductor market share will be OK for competition – may not be its only hurdle.
In fact, Chipzilla may not be worth much to Qualcomm unless it can renegotiate the x86/x86-64 cross-licensing
patent agreement between Intel and AMD, which dates back
to 2009. That agreement is terminated if a change in control happens at either Intel or AMD.