Intel to boost integrated microprocessor and FPGA offerings with acquisition of Altera

June 1, 2015
SANTA CLARA, Calif., 1 June 2015. Intel Corp., a worldwide giant in general-purpose microprocessors, announced an agreement today to acquire field-programmable gate array (FPGA) specialist Altera Corp. in San Jose, Calif., for $16.7 billion to combine microprocessor and FPGA technologies.
SANTA CLARA, Calif., 1 June 2015. Intel Corp., a worldwide giant in general-purpose microprocessors, announced an agreement today to acquire field-programmable gate array (FPGA) specialist Altera Corp. in San Jose, Calif., for $16.7 billion to combine microprocessor and FPGA technologies.

Intel plans to offer Altera’s FPGA products with Intel Xeon server-class processors as customized, integrated products, Intel officials say. The companies also expect to enhance Altera’s products by applying Intel’s integrated device manufacturing model.

Designers of aerospace and defense high-performance embedded computing (HPEC) systems often pair Altera FPGAs and high-end Intel processors for demanding digital signal processing applications in radar processing, electronic warfare (EW) signals intelligence (SIGINT), and other compute-intensive uses.

Intel and Altera also take center stage in HPEC design trends that involve so-called hybrid processor architectures that blend general-purpose processors like the Intel Core i7, server-class processors like the Intel Xeon, general-purpose graphics processor units (GPGPUs) like the Nvidia Tesla, and FPGAs like the Altera Stratix.

Related: Hybrid processor architectures meet demands for SWaP

The acquisition also could change the FPGA competitive landscape somewhat, by pitting microelectronics giants Intel and Microsemi Corp. in Aliso Viejo, Calif. Microsemi acquired FPGA specialist Actel in 2010. Monday's deal also leaves Xilinx Inc. in San Jose, Calif., as one of the few remaining independent FPGA providers in the U.S.

Altera will become an Intel business unit to facilitate continuity of existing and customer sales and support. Intel plans to continue support and development for Altera’s ARM-based and power management product lines. The acquisition should close in six to nine months, Intel officials say.

“Intel’s growth strategy is to expand our core assets into profitable, complementary market segments,” says Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. “We believe that as part of Intel we will be able to develop FPGAs and system-on-chips for our customers in all market segments," says Altera President and CEO John Daane.

More information on Intel's acquisition of Altera is online at http://intelacquiresaltera.transactionannouncement.com. For additional information contact Intel online at www.intel.com, or Altera at www.altera.com.

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