Apple to acquire Intel's modem business to speed up chip development

According to foreign media reports, Apple is in talks with Intel to acquire Intel's modem chip business in Germany, thereby accelerating its pace of developing its own chips.

Modem chips are mainly responsible for processing analog signals and communications sent by mobile phones. Mobile phones can make calls and surf the Internet. In 2011, Intel acquired modem chip manufacturer Infineon for US$1.4 billion, and the production base of related chips was set up in Germany.

Modem chips are vital to Apple. In April this year, Apple chose to settle with Qualcomm and succumb to high patent fees because they still rely on Qualcomm's modem products.

When Apple and Qualcomm broke up in the early days, they chose Intel's modems for a long time. However, because Intel could not keep up with Qualcomm, Huawei and even MediaTek in the development of the latest 5G baseband, Apple gave up Intel and returned to Qualcomm. At the same time, Intel also announced that it would give up its 5G smartphone modem business.

In order to get rid of its dependence on Qualcomm, Apple has also started to develop its own modems in recent years. Earlier, there were reports that Intel was selling its modem business in batches, and then the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple had discussed with Intel about acquiring part of Intel's modem chip business. Now, the acquisition negotiations are still ongoing.

A person familiar with the matter said that the acquisition agreement between Apple and Intel may include Intel's patents and products, as well as some of its current employees. In addition, according to previous reports, Apple is expected to launch its own modem chip around 2025. If the acquisition negotiations are successful, Apple's modem chip research and development progress will inevitably be accelerated.