On top of its largest acquisition yet of McAfee, comes news of Intel's move to buy Infineon's mobile chip division. The mobile space will add to Intel's already fledging desktop cash cow, and how!
It's childish to assume that the company will abandon producing processors for the desktops. Intel leads the pack with its multi-core desktop processors, but the mobile space hasn't been a bed of roses for Intel, yet.
Not that Intel is new to it. Remember XScale? That was Intel's chipset for the mobile platform. I still have the Motorola A780 that it powers. Unfortunately Intel couldn't do as much as it wanted to do with it, and sold it to Marvell.
It then focussed on its Atom line of processors for the cost-sensitive portable devices. It's still power-sensitive, but not quite as the mobile phone platform. Atom-based chipsets compete with ARM-based chipsets. Now get this. The latter mostly use Infineon's wireless chips.
Catch my drift?
With this purchase, Intel is now playing on two competing platforms -- on the cost-and-power sensitive ARM and Atom. By the time this deal is completed, the next generation of Atom chips (Pineview) will be ready to roll out. Intel will be in a unique position to make a sale no matter which of the two platforms you choose for your smartphone.
Plus, with the influx of Infineon's engineers, expect the chipset to work (and work well) with the Atom as well. When it does, wouldn't you rather buy the Atom, Infineon combination, instead of sourcing the various components from different vendors?
And remember the McAfee acquisition? Together with the Infineon purchase, it allows Intel to equip you with a smartphone that assures you of a safe environment for mobile banking. It's a boon for consumers.
At the same time, it's a little worrying for Apple. They use the Infineon chipsets in the iPhone. With Intel-based Macs, they are already in business with Intel. Would they be willing to partner with Intel on the iPhone front too? They just might.
But there's a strong possibility that Apple would be looking for a communication chip vendor to acquire. They already make processors for the iPhone in-house. If Intel decides to play clever and bridge the gap between the processor and communication chipset, Apple would be forced to use the Atom. No one strong-arms Apple.
Rest assured, the acquisition frenzy isn't over. It's just getting started.
