Arm, the British semiconductor darling that has exploded in value this year, has reportedly tried to buy up a chunk of stuggling tech giant Intel in a sign companies are circling the ailing chipmaker.
The group approached Intel about the prospect of buying up its product unit, Bloomberg reported citing someone with direct knowledge of the matter. However, Intel reportedly told Arm the unit wasn’t for sale.
The high-level inquiry focused on Intel’s product group, which sells chips for personal computers, rather than the company’s manufacturing operations.
A representative for Arm declined to comment. A representative for Intel didn’t immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Intel effectively split its product and manufacturing divisions earlier this year into Intel Foundry and Intel Product in a bid to create more chips for customers, akin to world leader TSMC.
The group partnered with Arm in February on a vague “Emerging Business Initiative” that would see Intel work with startups developing Arm-based system chip processors. Arm CEO Rene Haas described the partnership as “a bit of strange bedfellows.”
Now, however, SoftBank-owned Arm appears to want more of Intel’s business.
Arm licenses its cutting-edge chip designs to customers, supplying groups including Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft. Its technology mainly goes into smartphones, but the group is keen to expand into computer processing units, competing with Intel.
Buying up Intel’s product division would help Arm pivot to selling more of its own products rather than solely selling licenses, something Haas is keen to do to help Arm rival other major AI players like Nvidia.
A tale of two chipmakers
Arm went public on the Nasdaq last year through a blockbuster $55 billion IPO, by far the biggest of 2023. Shares were massively oversubscribed on launch day, sending its value up by 25%.
It has gone from strength to strength in 2024, more than doubling in value this year.
Intel, meanwhile, has had a torrid year set off by disastrous financial results released in August. The company suspended its dividend and pledged to slash 15,000 jobs as part of a plan to save $10 billion in costs next year. The company has also reined in manufacturing plans, delaying a $33 billion factory in Germany by up to two years.
While shares in Arm have more than doubled in 2024, Intel’s have nearly halved amid major pessimism over the chipmaker’s direction.
Arm is currently worth around $17 billion more than Intel—which was once the world’s largest chipmaker and worth $503 billion back in 2000—after leapfrogging the company over the summer.