Aug 30
Infineon sells its mobile business to Intel
Infineon announced Monday the sale of Intel's mobile solutions activities (WLS) for $ 1.4 billion (1.1 billion euros) in cash, which will allow the group to strengthen its U.S. presence the component market for smartphones.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter 2011, Infineon said in a statement.
Intel said that its side activities acquired the German group would retain their independence.
"The acquisition of the WLS Infineon strengthens the second pillar of our IT strategy, internet connectivity, and allows us to offer a complete portfolio of products," said in a separate statement the CEO of Intel Paul Otellini.
Three sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters that Intel and Infineon were very close to an agreement.
Wireless Solutions Division (WLS) of the German group achieved a turnover of 917 million euros for the last fiscal year ended, about 30% of the total turnover of Infineon (3.03 billion).
In the market for semiconductors for mobile devices, Infineon was far behind industry giants such as Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Broadcom.Clients of WLS include leading groups such as Nokia, LG and Apple.
Intel, meanwhile, had a weakness to fill in the moving parts: if its Atom range, with some success on the market for "netbooks" entry-level, is virtually absent from the segment of smartphones, the most carrier and the most lucrative market now.
Infineon would instantly have a heavyweight Intel (mobile market) and would win three or four years of R & D (research and development), "he said last week that Flint Pulskamp, an analyst at IDC, while the operation was still mentioned in the conditional.
Intel continues briskly and its acquisition strategy following the announcement of the August 19 purchase of McAfee, a computer security specialist, for 7.7 billion dollars.
Infineon's shareholders should enjoy the assignment because it could pave the way for the payment of a dividend.
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