Intel, the world's primary chipmaker, recently announced that it would acquire 1,700 patents from wireless specialist InterDigital Inc. for $375 million, reports Reuters.
The move comes nearly a year after InterDigital, an engineering company in King of Prussia (Pennsylvania) put itself up for sale after a syndicate led by Apple, the world's most valuable technology company, paid $4.5 billion for patents from defunct Nortel Networks.
Intel, in Santa Clara, Calif., previously bought wireless patents from German chipmaker Infineon Technologies for $1.4 billion to bolster its wireless product line in the Centrino family.
Now Intel will get patents that cover a range of 3G, LTE and Wi-Fi technologies from Interdigital. The patents should boost Intel's mobile product portfolio as the company establishes a presence in the smartphone and tablet markets, which is currently ruled by ARM.
Intel, in a company press release, has mentioned that it will integrate 3G and 4G LTE capabilities along with its Atom microprocessor in devices like smartphones and tablets. Intel made its first entry into the smartphone market earlier this year with its Atom chip code-named Medfield, which is being used in handsets from Lenovo, Orange and Lava International.
The company, later this year, will also release a dual-core Atom Z2580 processor with 3G, 4G and LTE capabilities. Intel's upcoming Atom chip for tablets, code-named Clover Trail, will also come with mobile broadband options.
Meanwhile, according to a Reuter's reports, shares of InterDigital, which also announced a $200 million share buyback, rose as much as 30 percent to $30.28 before falling back to close at $29.08, up $6.20 or 27 percent. Intel, on the other hand, closed at $27.42, up by eight percent.
