Chip manufacturer Qualcomm will purchase WiFi chipmaker Atheros Communications for $US3.1 billion, the company announced yesterday.
Qualcomm will pay $US45 per share for Atheros stock, with the deal having been approved by both entities. Atheros chief executive Craig Barratt will join the company as president of the networking and connectivity unit.
“It is Qualcomm’s strategy to continually integrate additional technologies into mobile devices to make them the primary way that people communicate, compute, and access content,” Qualcomm chairman and chief executive Paul Jacobs, said in a statement.
“This acquisition is a natural extension of that strategy into other types of devices.”
Qualcomm is rumoured to be supplying a chip for the upcoming iPad 2.0.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
