Intel won’t sell off its programmable chip business: Altera CEO – Computerworld

Competitive impact on the FPGA market

Altera — which designs field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), allowing chips to be reprogrammed for diverse applications — has been operating independently of Intel since early 2024. However, the company is still decoupling from Intel’s administrative functions, a process expected to be completed by January 2025. According to Rivera, Altera is “ahead of schedule” in this transition, the CRN report added.

Intel acquired Altera for $16.7 billion in 2015, integrating the FPGA business into its operations under the name Programmable Solutions Group. In 2023, Intel announced plans to spin off the unit as a standalone company to attract private investment and support Intel’s broader financial strategy under CEO Pat Gelsinger. In early 2024, Altera was spun off from Intel as a separate business.

Rivera noted that Altera is well-positioned in the FPGA market, particularly after the acquisition of competitor Xilinx by AMD in 2022. In an earlier press briefing, Rivera had said that Altera aims to capitalize on a $55 billion FPGA market opportunity, spanning sectors like cloud, data centers, automotive, and aerospace.