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Intel may buy Freescale's French operations: Report
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 24 September 2009, 20:53 IST
San Francisco: A report is circulating that Intel plans to buy Freescale Semiconductor's wireless operations in Toulouse, France. The report was circulated in the September 24 issue of Forward Concepts newsletter, which cited a French newspaper as the original source.
In the newsletter, Forward Concept Principal Analyst Will Strauss adds credence to the report, saying, "We think the story has legs, since it's clear that Intel desperately wants to get back in to the cellular chip business, if for no other reason than to beef up 3G capability for its fast-growing netbook and Mobile Internet Device (MID) chip business." Strauss added that Intel does not want to be beholden to wireless chip heavyweight Qualcomm, which is going head-to-head with the chipmaker's Atom processor with its own ARM-based Snapdragon.
Freescale's Toulouse operations have been in the news recently because of worker unrest, as employees fearful of losing their jobs have staged several protests. Freescale said earlier this year it would close a fab at the site.