Is Qualcomm buying Intel? I saw this question on X (ahem, Twitter) today and it got me thinking: what kind of upside-down world do these people live in? In fact, even some media outlets have published headlines asking the same question, and I'm here to set the record straight.
No, Qualcomm is not buying Intel, and it won't be doing so anytime soon. Despite its recent victories with the new Snapdragon X Elite ChipQualcomm has not approached Intel with any kind of acquisition plan, and Intel itself still appears to be fully committed to its processor business, especially with How impressive are their upcoming Luna Lake chips?.
It's been a bit of a crazy week in terms of computer industry news: AMD revealed that it is Ditching the flagship gaming GPU and we got our first look at Apple Intelligence at the 'Glowtime' eventbut it won't be coming to iPhones or Macs for a while yet. Among this, Reuters published a report claiming that Qualcomm has “examined acquiring different parts of Intel.”
Now, that Reuters article contains the phrase “sources say” multiple times in just the first few lines, and Qualcomm itself has declined to comment, so take it all with a grain of salt. But to break it down, all we really know is that Intel could be looking to get rid of some unprofitable parts of your business as you face some challenges financial turbulenceand Qualcomm could have been interested in purchasing those business units.
A new fighter enters the ring
There's no denying that Qualcomm is in a great moment right now. I personally reported from Computex 2024 in Taipei earlier this year that Qualcomm was the clear winner of the eventwith a gripping keynote address that includes guest appearances from several laptop manufacturer executives, all of them throwing their collective hats into the Snapdragon ring.
It's also no secret that Intel has been having a rough time lately; the massive upheaval 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 offer fierce competition in other areas, bringing its powerful systems-on-a-chip to laptop PCs like the Asus ROG Ally Xwhile Intel-equipped competitors MSI Claw A1M It was just… overwhelming.
Investors also seem to be unhappy with Intel’s recent performance. The chip giant’s market cap fell to $80 billion this week, the lowest in over a decade. Meanwhile, Qualcomm’s market cap stands at $176 billion at the time of writing, while long-time competitor AMD stands at $224 billion and AI giant Nvidia’s investments in AI have seen huge returns, pushing them to a staggering $2.62 trillion.
Never bet against Intel
I have to say, though… I'm not worried. Even if Qualcomm does end up buying some of Intel's commercial businesses (perhaps its client PC design business, as Reuters' sources suggested), there's plenty of potential for Team Blue to bounce back.
With a September 24th release date confirmed for new Lunar Lake CPUs as well as a lot of laptops that will come with those chips (plus fast reboot) MSI Claw 8 AI+), Intel is on the verge of a resurgence. We also have Intel's second-generation Arc 'Battlemage' discrete GPUs on the horizonwhich could be a welcome addition to the affordable graphics card market even if the first-generation Arc cards failed to make much of an impact.
Also, (without wanting to get political) Intel isn't going under, because the US military needs it too badly. The chipmaker has numerous contracts and long-term agreements with both the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, so a government-assisted bailout is likely to happen if those difficulties start to look too dire. So if you're a Team Blue fan, fear not: even the military-industrial complex has your back.
