This is weird...
...and fabulously amusing.
As I said in the ARM/QUALCOMM thread:
"Apple buying Intel?
At first it sounds unlikely because Apple is too cheap to make a massive purchase like that. (And unless Khan is gone, FTC will go ballistic.)
However...
It makes so much sense even scrooge would open his purse:
1- Apple is too dependent on TSMC for their chips. If China moves on Taiwan that'll be a double whammy, regardless of how fast they build up manufacturing in India and Vietnam.
2- intel has first dibs on the next gen of super advanced chip lithography machines.
3- intel controls x86 and through it one of the choke points of Windows hardware.
4- x86 runs Android just fine so it stands to gain share as a fallback to ARM.
5- intel is only third in GPU architectures but they're improving and working hard on NPUs
6- Apple switches architectures at the drop of a hat so instead of ARM being able to threaten them, they can threaten to bolt if they don't like their terms. Or if they like total vertical integration.
7- The entire WinTel market would be very uncomfortable.
7a- To add to the fun, for decades every time intel got "uppity" with MS, they would mutter about buying AMD and the partnership would get back on the same page. MS might feel forced to pull the trigger this time.
7b- Sony would be very very uncomfortable.
Just the thought is popcorn worthy. Enough to spark a three-way bidding war between Apple, MS, and Samsung. Maybe others might be tempted to jump in..."
As fun as it is to speculate, Intel is too important to too many major players for this deal to be allowed...not be the feds but by the various "interested parties".
A rescue package strikes me as most likely, either taking it private or in exchange for equity.
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