- Apple (AAPL -0.8%) held talks with Intel (INTC -10.1%) starting last year about acquiring parts of the latter's smartphone modem chip business, The Wall Street Journal reports.
- Those talks started around last summer and only halted recently, around the time Apple reached its multiyear supply agreement with Qualcomm (QCOM +1.8%), according to the report. But it shows Apple warming up to the idea of bigger deals.
- And Intel's now exploring strategic alternatives for its modem chips and has hired Goldman Sachs to manage a process that could result in a sale for a few billion dollars. Other than Apple, interested buyers might be Broadcom (AVGO -0.8%), ON Semiconductor (ON -1.3%), Samsung (OTC:SSNLF) or China's Unisoc Communications.
- A sale could mean unloading an Intel business that was losing about $1B per year; Intel said it was abandoning making modems for 5G phones after news of the Apple-Qualcomm settlement.
- Previously: Behind Apple's surprise settlement with Qualcomm (Apr. 18 2019)