Intel has agreed to transfer a 51% stake in its Altera division to Silver Lake for US$4.46 billion (~RM19.7 billion), as part of a move to recover its finances. This will also allow Intel to simplify its operations and focus on its core business areas like CPUs, GPUs, supporting platforms, as well as chip production.
Based on the terms of the agreement, Intel retains 49% of Altera, which means that the company will still benefit from Altera’s future performance. Meanwhile, Silver Lake’s 51% share allows Altera to work as an independent entity and remain focused on areas such as automotive, aerospace, and communications, while also aiming for growth in artificial intelligence, cloud platforms, edge systems, and next-generation wireless networks.
Intel bought Altera for US$16.7 billion (~RM73 billion) in 2015 in what was considered its biggest deal at the time as a way to broaden its revenue sources and strengthen its role in the data centre market. However, Intel’s plan to shift Altera’s chip production in-house ended up costing the company. In 2024, Altera’s was operating at a loss of US$615 million (~RM2.71 billion), with its revenue only making up 3% of Intel’s sales. Currently, Altera is valued at a mere US$8.75 billion (~RM38.5 billion) compared to what it was worth when Intel acquired it ten years ago.
“Today’s announcement reflects our commitment to sharpening our focus, lowering our expense structure and strengthening our balance sheet.” Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said. The new CEO’s strategy to recover the company after missteps by previous leadership left it struggling to keep up with competitors like NVIDIA and AMD. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2025. Once finalised, Altera’s financial results will be removed from Intel’s consolidated statements.
(Source: Reuters, Tom’s Hardware)
