Qualcomm Said to Have Approached Intel About Takeover Bid

[john_]

I’m pretty sure that both intel and amd have agreements signed in case something like this ever happened.

AMD could go with Qualcomm in a court about AMD's and Intel's agreements that get violated by Qualcomm, but by the time the court comes to a conclusion, AMD could be crippled. AMD suffered years of anticompetitive tactics from Intel and never really get any reasonable compensation for that.

I understand that, all in the name of backwards compatibility, but how much of the old stuff is used on a modern computer?

You can't remove the first floor from a building, because you build a second one over it.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Qualcomm Said to Have Approached Intel About Takeover Bid

Never gonna happen. Not only does Qualcomm not have enough money but it would never pass government anti-trust approval.

 

[RimbowFish]

infact, Qualcomm could pass anti-trust approval, but, really, HUAWEI could be interested more in buying the whole intel business if if there were no sanctions...........

 

[pavle]

Do it. Intel has lost their way long ago (when Apple left it to their own devices).

 

[Geofrancis]

isnt blackrock the group with its own private army?

 

[Deleted member 190956]

I know nVidia is making a killing with all the AI bubble right now, but I can't help wonder whether intel could be saved by licensing x86 to nVidia for a great lot of money. The AI bubble might deflate (even if it doesn't completely bust like cryptomining), nvidia doesn't seem like the company to put all their eggs in one basket and not care about a valuable x86 license. Or is AMD's ownership of x64 a sticking point in such a scenario?

I also don't quite see how nvidia buying intel would be the same situation as their failed attempt to purchase ARM. It seems like a different situation to me? ARM has been licensing its ISA to a whole raft of companies and nvidia is well known for its business practices, so there was the fear that nvidia would attempt to create a monopoly and lock down the architecture. There exists no such fear with the X86 ISA because it is already locked down. Intel doesn't license it to anyone apart from the standing agreements with AMD. As long as nvidia honored the licensing agreements with AMD (which they would most probably be forced to do, considering these are cross-licensing agreements, and involve AMD's 64-bit extensions, too), it seems to me that an intel buyout by nvidia would face less scrutiny than the arm buyout attempt? What am I missing here?

 

[FoulOnWhite]

Pretty sure intel will say NO

 

[KaitouX]

It's quite interesting that the relative market cap difference between Intel, Qualcomm and AMD is so far from their relative revenue and income numbers.

 

[lexluthermiester]

infact, Qualcomm could pass anti-trust approval

No, they could not.

 

[Neo_Morpheus]

Qualcomm could pass anti-trust approval

They might, but with lots of stipulations.

HUAWEI could be interested more in buying the whole intel business

Many of the mentioned companies are American hence wouldn’t be that difficult to get approval, but there is no way that Huawei gets approved, regardless of sanctions since its not an American company, to begin with.

AMD could go with Qualcomm in a court about AMD's and Intel's agreements that get violated by Qualcomm,

I remember this exact scenario when AMD almost died thanks to intel illegal actions and one of the stipulations was that whoever bought AMD wouldnt get the x86 license so AMD was almost worthless to be purchased.

but by the time the court comes to a conclusion, AMD could be crippled.

AMD could ignore whichever demands Qualcomm comes up if the original agreement with Intel is not followed.

AMD suffered years of anticompetitive tactics from Intel and never really get any reasonable compensation for that.

Yes and this is why i’m so happy to even hear how badly Intel is now doing. AMD didn’t get the money they deserved but man, observing karma going wild on intel must count for something.

 

[mb194dc]

This news is just market manipulation to help Intel stock price? Be surprised if there's any substance to this at all. Does make me wonder about how bad this quarter is going to be for Intel though...

 

[Daven]

No, they could not.

Its highly probable that Intel spins its fabs off into another company if its not possible to buy Intel due to regulatory blocks. It’s improbable that Intel can stay profitable without major, major changes. We all need to be prepared for what’s coming.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Its highly probable that Intel spins its fabs off into another company if its not possible to buy Intel due to regulatory blocks. It’s improbable that Intel can stay profitable without major, major changes. We all need to be prepared for what’s coming.

That is doubtful as well. Intel has already separated it's fabs into a new business entity. Rumors are just that. Meritless and nonsense most of the time.

 

[Vya Domus]

Qualcomm is very well embedded in the semiconductor industry, more than Intel I would say, not surprised they would want to buy them out.

 

[Daven]

That is doubtful as well. Intel has already separated it's fabs into a new business entity. Rumors are just that. Meritless and nonsense most of the time.

No. IFS is part of Intel. All monies go into one bank account. All fab expenses are paid from Intel CPU sale revenue. A single CEO (Pat) runs all of it. IFS is not separate in anyway whatsoever.

IFS is separate when it has its own CEO, has its own IPO and stock symbol, files quarterly earnings report separate from Intel and becomes a legally separate business entity.

 

[lexluthermiester]

No. IFS is part of Intel.

It's still a separate legal entity. So yes.

All monies go into one bank account.

Incorrect. Each are separate taxable entities and thus are required, by law, to have separate accounting and banking.

All fab expenses are paid from Intel CPU sale revenue. A single CEO (Pat) runs all of it. IFS is not separate in anyway whatsoever.

IFS is separate when it has its own CEO, has its own IPO and stock symbol, files quarterly earnings report separate from Intel and becomes a legally separate business entity.

Your understand of how corporate structuring works needs revision. It's very much more complicated than you suggest.

 

[Daven]

It's still a separate legal entity. So yes.

Incorrect. Each are separate taxable entities and thus are required, by law, to have separate accounting and banking.

Your understand of how corporate structuring works needs revision. It's very much more complicated than you suggest.

Everything you stated is incorrect. IFS is part of Intel. It is not taxed separately. I understand exactly how it works.

Intel's only reason to play accounting tricks to make it seem they split off IFS is to get orders from Apple, AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm, etc. without conflict of interest. That has not happened and will not happen. Intel WILL sabotage any chip orders received from these companies in order to give them a leg up in the market. This is why Intel has received close to ZERO chip orders from other companies. The proof is in the pudding as they say. Only people like you play into the subterfuge but unfortunately for Intel, you are not in charge of a large chip design firm.

 

[Easo]

These are all publicly traded companies. No one is immune to buyouts. Of course, all mergers and acquisitions are subject to regulatory approval but just because it's Intel doesn't mean Intel is somehow special. It's just another corporation on the good ole stock market, available for purchase.

Intel is special. CPU market has only two players for the whole world which, literally, is dependant on them.
Doesn't matter if they are publicly traded, USA gov will simply put the foot down. Sure they can be carved up a bit, force to make some changes, etc. - but Uncle Sam needs them under control and they WILL be under control.

 

[z1n0x]

Putting aside the whole regulatory aspect. I doubt Qualcomm would want to burden themselves with Intel's problems in the first place. Buying a specific piece of Intel's business seems more plausible to me.
Qualcomm is trying to get into the PC market. But that's Intel most profitable business. Selling it is completely nonsensical.
Which lead us to Mobileye (automotive) and Altera (infrastructure). Qualcomm has presence in both markets. If there's any substance to this news, i think It'll be about Mobileye or Altera.

 

[john_]

Yes and this is why i’m so happy to even hear how badly Intel is now doing. AMD didn’t get the money they deserved but man, observing karma going wild on intel must count for something.

Considering Qualcomm has used also very questionable anticompetitive moves in the past, in fact Nvidia used those anticompetitive tactics as one of the excuses to exit smartphone SOC market, I would be happier if Intel was bought from someone else, if there was any chance of this scenario becoming a reality. Qualcomm buying Intel would have been a very bad scenario.

I know nVidia is making a killing with all the AI bubble right now, but I can't help wonder whether intel could be saved by licensing x86 to nVidia for a great lot of money. The AI bubble might deflate (even if it doesn't completely bust like cryptomining), nvidia doesn't seem like the company to put all their eggs in one basket and not care about a valuable x86 license. Or is AMD's ownership of x64 a sticking point in such a scenario?

I doubt x86 license retains the value it had 20 years ago when Nvidia asked for one. ARM today is competitive in many markets and Nvidia is already using it in servers.
When AI bubble deflates, if it ever deflates or in case other hardware becomes preferred to GPUs, Nvidia can still take over the market thanks to it's superior GPUs and the power it can exercise on the market. A SoC with ARM cores and Nvidia iGPU could become easily a huge success in the market tomorrow. A platform with an Nvidia CPU and an Nvidia GPU that will be exclusive to that platform could also manage to get a portion of enthusiast gamers. Windows on ARM seems to be working this time and I bet that whatever Qualcomm can build today to run Windows on ARM and games on PCs, Nvidia can do it many times better and faster. As for AMD, unfortunately as we can see in the GPU business they can't fight Nvidia. AMD will come to an agreement eventually with Nvidia, or Nvidia might decide to start a price war in GPUs that Radeon wouldn't be able to fight. Nvidia is way too powerful today, that's why it wasn't allowed to take over ARM. And if US considers x86 extremely important, that's a reason for Qualcomm to not get Intel or AMD. Because Qualcomm probably wouldn't be interested to keep investing on x86.

 

[thesmokingman]

This news is just market manipulation to help Intel stock price? Be surprised if there's any substance to this at all. Does make me wonder about how bad this quarter is going to be for Intel though...

As I posted earlier, pump n dump news play.

 

[Neo_Morpheus]

Considering Qualcomm has used also very questionable anticompetitive moves in the past, in fact Nvidia used those anticompetitive tactics as one of the excuses to exit smartphone SOC market, I would be happier if Intel was bought from someone else, if there was any chance of this scenario becoming a reality.

Agreed. I mentioned this on another post.

Qualcomm buying Intel would have been a very bad scenario.

See above.

A platform with an Nvidia CPU and an Nvidia GPU that will be exclusive to that platform could also manage to get a portion of enthusiast gamers.

That would be as bad or worse for the whole industry, but for some weird reason, everyone now keeps giving Ngreedia free passes and dont even call out their many anti consumer practices.

As for AMD, unfortunately as we can see in the GPU business they can't fight Nvidia.

That’s not entirely true and on the contrary, they are fighting, with a way smaller budget and getting decent results.
The are behind on the software part but are working on it (ROCm vs CUDA). Example, their MI300X parts are faster than the targeted competitor (H100).
On the top 10 supercomputers, they hold several spots, including the first one.

The problem with gamers is that we now have these influencers that don’t educate consumers into not falling for non platform agnostic tech and instead praise such things. Just see how none of them, ever, make any such warnings about dlss?
Or overhype tech that its still not entirely ready for mass consumption, like RT.
I can go on, but I’m already gone way off topic.

 

[Daven]

Intel is special. CPU market has only two players for the whole world which, literally, is dependant on them.
Doesn't matter if they are publicly traded, USA gov will simply put the foot down. Sure they can be carved up a bit, force to make some changes, etc. - but Uncle Sam needs them under control and they WILL be under control.

There are literally dozens and dozens of CPU players nowadays. I think you are missing why Intel is struggling lately. You are just thinking about the computer gaming enthusiast DIY market here at TPU. If Intel disappeared right now, it would just mean Qualcomm, Apple, AMD, Nvidia, Mediatek, Huawei, IBM, Samsung, other ARM and Risc-V licensees and more companies would fill the gap. In fact that's what's happening right this very second as Intel's revenues, margins and market share plummets.

Intel is not special. Not anymore. And not ever again.

That’s not entirely true and on the contrary, they are fighting, with a way smaller budget and getting decent results.

A good example of this is how AMD has and is beating Intel.

 

[Neo_Morpheus]

There are literally dozens and dozens of CPU players nowadays. I think you are missing why Intel is struggling lately. You are just thinking about the computer gaming enthusiast DIY market here at TPU. If Intel disappeared right now, it would just mean Qualcomm, Apple, AMD, Nvidia, Mediatek, Huawei, IBM, Samsung, other ARM and Risc-V licensees and more companies would fill the gap. In fact that's what's happening right this very second as Intel's revenues, margins and market share plummets.

Intel is not special. Not anymore. And not ever again.

You forgot that IBM opened POWER and are still developing them. Heck, maybe they should take another shot.

A good example of this is how AMD has and is beating Intel.

Exactly and again, with way less resources aka money to do so.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Intel is not special. Not anymore. And not ever again.

Wow...