Intel has announced that, in a bid to grow its presence in the lucrative smartphone market, it has acquired Infineon Technologies' Wireless Solutions business for $1.4 billion. 

 

Infineon’s cellular arm is responsible for outfitting an impressive share of the global smartphone market with micro-controllers and memory by supplying the likes of Apple, Nokia and Samsung amongst others.

 

Specifically, Infineon is responsible for making 3G standard broadband available on smartphone models. 

 

"The global demand for wireless solutions continues to grow at an extraordinary rate. The acquisition of Infineon's WLS (Wireless Solutions) business strengthens the second pillar of our computing strategy--Internet connectivity--and enables us to offer a portfolio of products that covers the full range of wireless options from Wi-Fi and 3G to WiMax and LTE (4G)" said Intel CEO Paul Otellini in a company statement.

 

The acquisition expands Intel's current Wi-Fi and 4G WiMAX offerings to include Infineon's 3G capabilities and supports Intel's plans to accelerate LTE. The acquired technology will be used in Intel Core processor-based laptops, and myriad of Intel Atom processor-based devices, including smartphones, netbooks, tablets and embedded computers.

 

Intel has been making considerable waves as a company this year. In early 2010 the corporation announced an operating system partnership with Nokia in Meego and opened a research facility in Finland to facilitate this, the company also acquired software vendor McAfee for $7.68 billion earlier this month.