ARM Reportedly Approached Intel For a Business Deal; Gets Rejected As Team Blue Has “No Plans” For Acquisitions

ARM has reportedly contacted Intel about a potential business deal, but Team Blue rejected the chip IP designer, stating they have no plans for a financial takeover.

Qualcomm Gets Followed By ARM For a Potential Business Deal With Intel, No Progress Made By Both Firms Yet

Ever since Intel got into financial turmoil, news surrounding the firm’s acquisition has taken a new high, with Qualcomm initially in the line and now ARM. Such reports aren’t unexpected at all, given that Intel is currently experiencing the worst financial period in the firm’s history, so Team Blue was looking towards desperate measures, whether that included selling off certain elements of its business. Bloomberg now reports that ARM approached Intel for a business deal, but it never went through due to the lack of interest from Intel.

The report further states that ARM wasn’t interested in Intel’s manufacturing operations but focused on getting hands-on experience with the firm’s product division, similar to what Qualcomm was after. However, it looks like Intel might have put an acquisition deal off the list, given that potential buyers are now being rejected, which shows that the situation at Intel’s camp may not be as bad as it may seem.

Apart from this, Intel has witnessed financial lifelines coming its way, with the Biden administration coming in and releasing grants under the CHIPS Act. Along with this, Apollo Investment Group has reportedly pledged to invest $5 billion in an attempt to kickstart operations, so, in the short term, Intel might be away from financial dangers for now. Intel is also undergoing a restructuring phase, including laying off employees, halting large-scale foundry projects, and splitting manufacturing and chip operations into two separate entities.

As for ARM, well the firm is heavily progressing when it comes to moving away from its traditional “chip IP” business, and is exploring new domains. There were reports previously that the firm might tap the consumer GPU business. We never got follow-up developments, so the project might not be as serious as it was presumed. However, ARM’s integration into Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips proved to boost the market adoption of the firm’s architecture and a potential Intel deal might have allowed ARM to develop its in-house consumer chips, but yet again, it’s all rumors for now.