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Intel purchases three networking chip firms

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CIOL Bureau
New Update

The current downturn in chip sales has not caused any downturn in corporate acquisitions at Intel. The chipmaker announced that it had agreed to buy three companies that make ICs for optical networking equipment.

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In all the acquisitions cost Intel some $500 million, including $400 million for LightLogic a Silicon Valley-based maker of ICs for equipment that converts optical signals into digital signals. Intel also paid $66 million for nSerial of Santa Clara, which makes high-speed electronic components that convert electrical signals into the language used by networking devices.

The third firm is Cognet of Los Angeles, which makes components that process electrical signals in optical modules after those signals have been converted from light waves. Intel officials, however, refused to disclose the amount it had agreed to pay for Cognet.

Already, Intel has acquired some 16 companies this year, most of them involved in networking systems and components, an area that ranks at the top of Intel’s corporate strategy to expand beyond its traditional PC microprocessor business.

"Our communications equipment customers are asking us to integrate high-speed electronic and photonic components into cost effective building blocks that help them reduce time-to-market," said general manage of Intel's Optical Products Group, Mike Ricci.

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