Arm Holdings PLC approached Intel Corp about potentially buying the ailing chipmaker’s product division, only to be told that the business is not for sale, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
In the high-level inquiry, Arm did not express interest in Intel’s manufacturing operations, said the source, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.
Intel has two main units: A product group that sells chips for personal computers, servers and networking equipment, and another that operates its factories.
Photo: Reuters
Representatives for Arm and Intel declined to comment.
Intel, once the world’s largest chipmaker, has become the target of takeover speculation since a rapid deterioration of its business this year. The company delivered a disastrous earnings report last month — sending its shares on their worst rout in decades — and is slashing 15,000 jobs to save money. It is also scaling back factory expansion plans and halting its long-cherished dividend.
As part of its turnaround efforts, Intel is separating the chip product division from its manufacturing operations. The move is aimed at attracting outside customers and investors, but it also lays the groundwork for the company to be split up — something Intel has considered, Bloomberg reported last month.
Arm, which is majority-owned by SoftBank Group Corp, makes much of its revenue selling chip designs for smartphones.
However, Arm chief executive officer Rene Haas has sought to broaden its reach outside of that industry. That has included a push into personal computers and servers, where its chip designs are going up against Intel’s.
Although Intel does not have the technological edge it once held, the Santa Clara, California-based company remains dominant in those markets.
Combining with Intel would help Arm’s reach and kick-start a move toward selling more of its own products. The company licenses technology and designs to customers, who then turn them into complete components. Its client list includes the biggest names in technology, such as Amazon.com Inc, Qualcomm Inc and Samsung Electronics Co.
Under Haas, the company has moved more in the direction of offering fully formed products — potentially putting it in competition with its licensees.
Arm, based in Cambridge, England, only has a fraction of Intel’s revenue. However, its valuation has soared since an initial public offering last year and now stands at more than US$156 billion.
Investors see the company as a beneficiary of the artificial intelligence spending boom, especially as it moves further into data center chips. Arm also has the backing of Japan’s SoftBank, which owns an 88 percent stake, potentially giving the company additional financial clout.
Intel, in contrast, has lost more than half its value this year and has a current market capitalization of US$102.3 billion. However, the company has other options to consider. Apollo Global Management Inc offered to make an investment in the company, Bloomberg reported this week. The firm indicated in recent days that it would be willing to put in as much as US$5 billion, marking a vote of confidence for CEO Pat Gelsinger.
Intel also plans to sell part of its stake in semiconductor maker Altera Corp to private equity investors. That business, which the chipmaker bought in 2015, was separated from Intel’s operations last year with the goal of taking it public.
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
STILL UNCLEAR: Several aspects of the policy still need to be clarified, such as whether the exemptions would expand to related products, PwC Taiwan warned The TAIEX surged yesterday, led by gains in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 100 percent tariff on imported semiconductors — while exempting companies operating or building plants in the US, which includes TSMC. The benchmark index jumped 556.41 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 24,003.77, breaching the 24,000-point level and hitting its highest close this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. TSMC rose NT$55, or 4.89 percent, to close at a record NT$1,180, as the company is already investing heavily in a multibillion-dollar plant in Arizona that led investors to assume
AI: Softbank’s stake increases in Nvidia and TSMC reflect Masayoshi Son’s effort to gain a foothold in key nodes of the AI value chain, from chip design to data infrastructure Softbank Group Corp is building up stakes in Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the latest reflection of founder Masayoshi Son’s focus on the tools and hardware underpinning artificial intelligence (AI). The Japanese technology investor raised its stake in Nvidia to about US$3 billion by the end of March, up from US$1 billion in the prior quarter, regulatory filings showed. It bought about US$330 million worth of TSMC shares and US$170 million in Oracle Corp, they showed. Softbank’s signature Vision Fund has also monetized almost US$2 billion of public and private assets in the first half of this year,
RSS