Intel Reportedly Rejected ARM’s Offer to Acquire its Product Division

Intel has reportedly rejected an approach from Arm to potentially acquire the company’s product division. According to a report from Bloomberg, Intel, which may be considering different options to turn itself around, told Arm that its product group wasn’t for sale.

Arm is a well-known British-based company that’s selling its chip designs to Qualcomm, Apple, and other clients making smartphone chips. Intel’s product group, which Arm was reportedly interested in, is responsible for selling chips for PCs and other devices.

Acquiring Intel’s product group would allow Arm to change its business model and increase its influence in the PC and mobile market. Such an acquisition may eventually put Arm in a position to compete with its own clients such as Qualcomm that are selling chips to smartphone and PC makers.

“In the high-level inquiry, Arm didn’t express interest in Intel’s manufacturing operations,” the report said, citing a person with direct knowledge of the discussions. Earlier this month, Intel actually announced that it was making Intel Foundry, the group that runs its factories an independent subsidiary.

With this change of governance, Intel Foundry may be able to operate more effectively and seek new sources of funding, the company said at the time. A separate report the Financial Times details recently detailed Intel’s discussions with the US government to finalize $8.5 billion in direct funding before the end of the year.

After announcing major cost reductions and layoffs after reporting disappointing results for Q2 2024, Intel is currently in a quite vulnerable position. Bloomberg previously reported that the company was considering splitting itself up to survive. Qualcomm also reportedly made a bid to acquire the Intel, though a formal acquisition offer would likely be heavily scrutinized by regulators around the world.