Apple buys ‘majority’ of Intel’s 5G smartphone modem biz for $1bn

THR RUMOURS WERE TRUE: Apple has bought the “majority” of Intel’s smartphone modem business in a bid to kickstart its in-house 5G hardware efforts.

The $1bn (around £802m) deal will see approximately 2,200 Intel employees upping sticks to Apple and also includes intellectual property, equipment and leases. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019, assuming it’s given the thumbs up from regulators.

Intel won’t be getting out of the modem business entirely, though. It’s still able to develop cellular hardware for anything that isn’t a smartphone; think autonomous vehicles, IoT devices and PCs.

“This agreement enables us to focus on developing technology for the 5G network while retaining critical intellectual property and modem technology that our team has created,” remarked Intel CEO Bob Swan.

“We’re looking forward to putting our full effort into 5G where it most closely aligns with the needs of our global customer base, including network operators, telecommunications equipment manufacturers and cloud service providers.”

Apple, on the other hand, will use the acquisition – which includes 17,000 wireless technology patents – to ramp up its own 5G modem efforts in a bid to lessen its reliance on frenemy Qualcomm…….read more

 

Source: The Inquirer

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