Intel has hinted that it may look at further acquisitions in the mobile space as part of its plan to diversify into new areas such as smartphones and other consumer electronics.
The company’s CFO Stacy Smith told Bloomberg: “We are looking at what we believe can accelerate our progress in those markets. As we see other opportunities like that, we think it’s a place where we can and will deploy capital.”
Although, Intel’s processors run about 80% of the world’s PCs, they don’t have a significant role in mobile devices. To be fair, the chip maker had a big push in netbooks with its Atom CPU and have plans to use it in other devices such as MIDs and smartphones. In that sense, Intel has partnered with LG and hopefully we won’t have to wait for too long to see the first results of that deal.
Back to acquisitions. Last year, Intel grabbed Wind River Systems for $884 million, giving the company software that runs devices ranging from cars to mobile phones. The question now is – who will be Intel’s next target? If I were at the helm of the company, I would like to crown my carrier with the acquisition of a company such as Texas Instruments, though I’m not sure that kind of a deal would be approved by competition commissions around the world… Anyone willing to guess?
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]