Intel’s fortunes have declined so rapidly over the past year that chip designer ARM has made a “senior inquiry” about buying its crown jewel product unit. Bloomberg informed. However, Intel said the unit was not for sale and rejected the offer, according to an unnamed insider.
Within Intel, there are two main divisions, the product group that sells PC, server, and networking chips, and the chip manufacturing plant. ARM had no interest in Intel’s foundry division Bloombergsources. ARM and Intel representatives declined to comment.
Intel’s fortunes have been in decline for years, but the decline over the past 12 months has been particularly dramatic. After a net loss of $1.6 billion in the second quarter of 2024, the company announced that it It is laying off 15,000 workers As part of a $10 billion cost-cutting plan. The company also announced its plans last week convert its sick casting business becomes an independent subsidiary. Intel lost half of its market value last year and is now worth $102.3 billion.
ARM sells its processor designs to Qualcomm, Apple and other manufacturers (mostly for mobile phones), but does not make any chips itself. Buying Intel’s product division would completely change its business model, although this scenario seems highly unlikely.
Competitors are circling with Intel currently injured. Qualcomm too expressed interest recently acquired Intel, according to a report last week. Any merger involving ARM and Qualcomm would be a regulatory nightmare, but the fact that the proposals exist at all shows Intel’s weakness.
Intel has other ways to raise investment. According to a recent Bloomberg report, Apollo Global Management (the owner of Yahoo and Engadget) has offered to invest $5 billion in the company. Intel also plans to sell part of its stake in chip maker Altera to private equity investors.
