Amazon in Talks to Buy Texas Instruments’ Mobile Chip Division

Reuters:

Amazon.com Inc, the world’s largest Internet retailer, is in advanced talks to buy the mobile chip business of Texas Instruments, Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist reported on Monday.

If negotiations lead to an agreement, Amazon, which makes tablets and is expected to enter the smartphone industry, would become a direct rival to Apple and Samsung Electronics, which also designs their own chips. The value of any deal will probably be billions of dollars, Calcalist said.

Makes sense if Amazon is committed to being a device maker. You want control over your core dependencies, and these chips are without question a core dependency in the mobile game. (Now imagine if Microsoft bought a chip maker.)

★ Tuesday, 16 October 2012