Apple To Acquire Intel's Smartphone Modem Business For $1 Billion

In a press release today, Apple announced its plan to acquire the majority of Intel's Smartphone Modem Business for $1 billion, the seco...

In a press release today, Apple announced its plan to acquire the majority of Intel's Smartphone Modem Business for $1 billion, the second-largest acquisition in the company’s history, after Beats in 2014. Apple’s VP of Hardware Technologies Johny Srouji said in a statement that he is excited to have these new engineers with expertise in modem development join Apple's cellular technologies group:

"We've worked with Intel for many years and know this team shares Apple's passion for designing technologies that deliver the world's best experiences for our users," said Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Technologies. "Apple is excited to have so many excellent engineers join our growing cellular technologies group, and know they'll thrive in Apple's creative and dynamic environment. They, together with our significant acquisition of innovative IP, will help expedite our development on future products and allow Apple to further differentiate moving forward."

The acquisition will see about 2,200 Intel employees joining Apple, and will give the Cupertino firm of more than 17,000 wireless technology patents. While they will also obtain Intel's associated intellectual property, machinery, and leases, it will not take over Intel’s expertise to develop modems for non-smartphone applications, such as PCs, driverless cars, and so on.

According to Apple, this particular purchase will allow them to accelerate its development on future products, enable the iPhone maker to significantly speed up its modem chip development, as Apple has rumored been working on that for years and it won’t be ready for at least another few years. Apple expects it to complete the purchase in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Image Via Yahoo Finance