Marvell Buys Intel's Handheld Processor Unit

Looks like Intel has divested its “communications and application processor units” to Marvell Technology for $600 million. Intel had invested significant amounts of cash into some of these units and the PXA Xscale-based line was particularly popular in Linux-based products. They also powered the latest Treo and Blackberry. The processors failed to generate the market share Intel had hoped for though. With nearly a billion cellphone due to ship next year and countless billions in investments already sunk into the projects, Intel finally decided to pull out of the market (which TI dominates with 69% of the market). I guess Apple isn't going to get that one stop shop I had speculated about a while back. What may be worse for Intel though, is that their little foray into this market may have taken their eye off the ball just long enough for AMD to gain the ground they have been vying for in Intel's core market for ages. Luckily for Intel, they have a cash cow to fall back on.
–jeremy
Intel, INTC, Marvell, Linux, Xscale, PXA, AMD