Intel buys Altera for $54 cash. Is this a good thing?

$54? A bargain!

Actually it was a bit more than that:

"The world's biggest chipmaker, Intel, has agreed to buy smaller rival Altera in a $16.7bn ." from BBC news

IMO it's a truly dreadful thing - FPGAs don't need 'acceptance in the broader world' - they are already used in large numbers  - the limiting factor is that they are only economical to use in a limited range of applications.

Intel's strength is in making big chips sold at highish prices which is where FPGAs have been for ages, Altera might get better access to leading edge chip technology but they already had a foundry deal.

Intel are beginning to look a bit like other old industrial giants who've completely lost their innovative edge - they buy up company after company and just absorb them into the general blob of decline.

MK

Paul Ellison wrote:

 

$54? A bargain!

That depends on how much liability there is :-)

I don't know where clem57 got $54.  Geek Times says $16.7B: http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326736

Seriously, I think it's great news... for Xilinx.  Intel has a way of buying companies or technologies and letting them wither on the vine due to lack of resources.  I've often observed the "Business Area One" or "Cash Cow" phenomenon at multiple large companies.  Basically, whichever part of the company is bringing in the most money gets to call the shots, and any upstart alternate technologies within the company get crushed or at least held back by Business Area One who sees an internal threat.  Examples include IBM 370 mainframes versus PowerPC, Microsoft Windows versus internal tablet OS work, and Intel x86 versus all of its RISC processors (Strong ARM, DEC Alpha, i432, i860, i960).

The key to FPGA success is software, not silicon.  Intel is a great company when it comes to high-performance silicon.  OTOH, when I think of Intel software I think of PL/M.  The smartest thing Intel could do with Altera is to open up the bitstream format and let the open source world take over FPGA software.  Open documentation is IMO one of the most important reasons Intel processors have been so successful.  They could revolutionize FPGA software by doing the same with Altera FPGAs.  However, I really doubt they'll do it.

JMO/YMMV

John Beetem wrote:

 

I don't know where clem57 got $54.  Geek Times says $16.7B: http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326736

I believe that was the share price.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/intel-nears-agreement-to-buy-altera-for-about-54-a-share-1433095451

That's an interesting point of view John. My first reaction was that if Intel played this right they could spell doom for Xilinx. I must admit, however, that I was not aware of Intel's past record.

Excellent point John.  Open is what we can hope for and there has a been a large uptake in Intel's attitude toward the "makers" and open source movement in recent years with the minnowboard, edison, galileo and new low power processors design to target IOT.

Intel has huge potential to change the entrenment of FPGA technology in the current state of closed and hard.  Here's to hoping!

On the other hand it could spell price hikes and mo money for xilinx if the Altera FPGA technology is put on the back burner by intel. 

It certainly is an interesting move. I doubt Intel is spending $17B just to toss the tech away. Intel has some of the most impressive leading edge IC technology in the world and tightly marrying it to leading edge FPGA technology is bound to be of great concern to competitors - it is a combination nobody else comes close to.

I hope Intel stays focused on marketing great IC products and uses the Altera software as a means to sell more chips. This provides an excellent incentive to make the software accessible to a wider user base, because every new user automatically increases chip sales.

Incidentally it would seem to give Intel another avenue to allow use of ARM technology in their products. It may also provide users with better ability to embed Intel architecture in their products, which could be a way to compete with ARM's ubiquitous licensing paradigm.

As to whether all this is a good thing - it only depends on your perspective. Competitors will not like it, but I think it will likely be good for the industry - it should push FPGAs into new territory and force more innovation or lower prices in the rest of the industry or introduce more alternatives to ARM technology.

Doug that was a very balanced review of the situation. I am hoping Intel does good with there new intellectual property.

Thanks to all sharing here. You are an awesome group.

Clem