Intel buys iPhone baseband chipmaker Infineon for $1.4 Billion
Well, it seems like the rumors are true: chipmaking giant Intel has just announced that they are buying Infineon for $1.4 billion, the company that makes the baseband chips inside many of the hottest smartphones on the market, including the iPhone.
This is a big deal. Intel’s got a lock on the conventional computing market, but their line-up of chips suitable for smartphones and tablets — the obvious future of computing — has been extraordinarily weak, threatening to leave Intel behind. By purchasing Infineon’s Wireless Solutions Business, Intel has just gone from being a rather insignificant player in the mobile chips market to a major powerhouse.
It doesn’t stop there. One thing that the Intel press release makes clear is that Intel plans to accelerate the growth of 4G LTE technology through this deal. In other words, Intel’s going to put its oomph to making 3G a thing of the past.
The acquisition won’t be completed until the first quarter of next year, so for now, we’ll have to wonder what the future of Intel-branded smartphones will look like… but if it finally leads to an iPhone LTE, this can’t be described as anything besides a win for consumers.
