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Is Qualcomm Buying Intel? I saw this question plastered on X (cough, Twitter) today and it got me thinking: what kind of upside-down world do these people live in? In fact, some real news organizations have run headlines asking the same question and I’m here to set the record straight.
No, Qualcomm is definitely not buying Intel, and won’t be anytime soon. Despite its recent wins with the new Snapdragon X Elite chipQualcomm has not approached Intel with an acquisition plan, and Intel itself appears to be fully committed to its processor business – especially with how impressive the upcoming Lunar Lake chips look.
It’s been a wild week in computer industry news, with AMD revealing that it giving up the flagship gaming GPU and we got our first glimpse of Apple Intelligence on the ‘Glowtime’ eventbut it will be a while before it comes to iPhones or Macs. Of these, Reuters published a report claiming that Qualcomm “has explored the possibility of acquiring several parts of Intel.”
Now, that Reuters article has the phrase “sources say” in the first few lines multiple times, and Qualcomm itself has declined to comment, so take all of this with a grain of salt. But for the sake of analysis, all we really know is that Intel power looking for a way to divest some unprofitable parts of its business as it faces a number of problems. financial turmoiland Qualcomm power are interested in purchasing those business units.
A new fighter enters the ring
There’s no denying that Qualcomm is currently on a roll. I personally reported from Computex 2024 in Taipei earlier this year that Qualcomm was the clear winner of the eventwith a compelling keynote speech featuring guest appearances from multiple laptop manufacturer executives, all of whom play a part in the Snapdragon ring.
It’s also no secret that Intel has been struggling a bit lately; the massive shake-up caused by the arrival of the Snapdragon X Elite has shaken up the entire laptop market, an area where Intel has historically dominated. AMD continues to provide fierce competition in other areas, bringing its powerful systems-on-a-chip to handheld PCs like the Asus ROG Ally Xwhile the competing Intel-equipped MSI Claw A1M was just… overwhelming.
Investors also don’t seem happy with Intel’s recent performance. The processor giant’s market cap fell to $80 billion this week, its lowest level in more than a decade. Meanwhile, Qualcomm’s market cap stands at $176 billion at the time of writing, while longtime rival AMD is at $224 billion, and big dog Nvidia’s AI investments have yielded huge returns, taking them to a staggering $2.62 trillion.
Never bet against Intel
I have to say, though… I’m not worried. Even if Qualcomm eventually buys some of Intel’s business ventures — perhaps its client PC design business, as Reuters’ sources suggest — there’s plenty of potential for Team Blue to bounce back.
Immediately Confirmed September 24th Release Date for New Lunar Lake CPUs as well as a whole host of laptops that will come with those chips (plus a soon-to-be rebooted MSI Claw 8 AI+), Intel is due for a revival. We also have Intel’s Second-Generation Arc ‘Battlemage’ Discrete GPUs Coming Soonwhich could be a welcome addition to the affordable graphics card market, even if the first generation Arc cards weren’t much of a success.
Furthermore (without wanting to get political here), Intel isn’t going under because the U.S. military needs it too badly. The chipmaker has a ton of long-term contracts and agreements with both the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, so there’s a good chance a government-backed bailout could come if that situation starts to look a little dire. So if you’re a Team Blue fanboy, fear not: Even the military-industrial complex has your back.
