AFTER ESCAPING THE FTC lawsuit with just a small dent in its cash position, Intel is back to the acquisition market and their next target is the wireless division of the German company Infineon. This division is responsible for the design of 3G modems and RF transmitters.
Why is this buy so crucial for Intel? The company is firmly committed to getting a big slice of the Smart Phone and MIDs market pies. Infineon brings Apple, Nokia, LG and others to Intel’s kitchen and it fits nice in the company’s long term planning, er, pie making.
Moorestown was just the beginning and while the processor did not gain hearts and minds around the market, it showed that an atom processor could be a viable platform for a smartphone and MIDs albeit not the undisputedly best one. Medfield will be a far more attractive platform for smartphone and MIDs and this is where the game starts for Intel.
Infineon will give Intel the ability to sell not only a SoC, but a complete platform for Smart Phones and MIDs much like it did in the notebook market, where an integrated Intel platform offers far better performance and battery life than AMD’s for a long time.
If Intel can develop the same level of integration between the processor and Infineon’s chips then the ARM crowd will have to run for its money if they are to keep dominating the Smart Phone and MID market pie.S|A
Marcelo Tavares
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