Qualcomm, the American multinational corporation best known for its range of semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology, including the ubiquitous family of Snapdragon SoCs for mobile devices, is unlikely to purchase Intel despite recent reports that suggest otherwise, including those that have claimed Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon himself is deeply involved in negotiations to acquire the five-decade-old company, according to the latest thoughts shared by industry analysts. The deal, while “intriguing,” probably won’t happen for reasons relating to antitrust, not to mention Qualcomm’s lack of experience in running a chip factory, one expert explained.
Analysts are saying:
- Bob O’Donnell, TECHnalysis Research founder
- “The rumored deal between Qualcomm and Intel is intriguing on many levels and, from a pure product perspective, makes a certain degree of sense as they have a number of complementary product lines.”
- “The reality of it actually occurring, however, is very low. Plus, it is unlikely Qualcomm would want all of Intel and trying to break apart the product business from the foundry business right now just would not be possible.”
- Stacy Rasgon, Bernstein
- “We do not know why Qualcomm would be a better owner for assets.”
- “We do not really see a scenario without them either; we do not think anyone else would really want to run them and believe scrapping them is unlikely to be politically viable.”
A look at Qualcomm’s current performance in the market versus Intel:
From a previous report:
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon is personally involved in the negotiations to acquire five-decade-old Intel, according to the source who was briefed on the matter. Another person familiar with the situation said Amon has been actively examining various options for a deal for the company.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Qualcomm explored the possibility of acquiring portions of Intel’s design business and that its PC design unit was of particular interest. Qualcomm executives were examining Intel’s entire portfolio of businesses.
Discussion (5 replies)
Join Discussion →The fact that there is even talk of this is an astonishing turn of events.
They should, I dont see the concerns.
Qualcomm is a more agressive company at this point, it would be a plus for industry.
To me, the biggest problem with Qualcomm is that they don't support their products long term.
They seemingly launch each new SoC with a set of drivers, and then abandon them quickly thereafter, meaning they have an artificially imposed very short lifespan in the field.
That mindset would be catastrophic if applied to the PC market where it is not uncommon to continue using a CPU for a decade or more.
Didn't know that.
Yeah, traditionally why Android phones had such short support lifespans.
Qualcomm made most of the SoC's, and while they provided drivers for the launch versions of Android, they refused to update or support them long term, meaning that within ~2 years, the phones would stop receiving updates.
It took both Google (Pixel) and Samsung making their own SoC's for them to be able to offer more competitive support life cycles.
Note how Samsung was always able to offer longer support life for their phones than other Android phones that tended to use Qualcomms Snapdragon SoC's due to them making their own Exynos SoC's.
Also note how the Pixel 5a - the Pixel to have a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC - was also the last to have a sub 5-year support life.