It is no secret that Intel is currently facing some difficulty in trying to break into the mobile market. While Intel might have had some success with low-end handsets, there just aren’t that many high-end Intel-powered smartphones around at the moment. That scene is primarily dominated by the likes of Qualcomm, Samsung, and to a certain extent NVIDIA and MediaTek, just to name a few.
So what can Intel do to boost its mobile presence? Well according to RBC analyst Doug Freeman, he thinks that one way Intel can start making their presence felt in the mobile chipset market is by buying out the competition, namely MediaTek. Freeman suggests that this would be a faster and better way as opposed to letting Intel’s business to grow naturally, which might take a long time if at all.
Freeman also suggests that this could benefit MediaTek as well since they would basically be given access to Intel’s technology, thus solidifying their position in the market. “Instead of Intel continuing to spend $4 billion-$6 billion a year to enter the market (higher end of spending range as it achieves success), hypothetically, an acquisition of MediaTek may reallocate Intel’s best-in-class under-utilized fabs and financial resources to a rising star in the SoC world, solidifying MediaTek’s market position.”
It’s an interesting proposal and like Freeman states, it’s merely hypothetical at the moment, but what do you guys think? Would it make sense for Intel to purchase a company like MediaTek? Or do you think Intel should just hold out and hope that one day their mobile chipsets will catch on?