No, Qualcomm is not buying Intel: debunking this week’s most ridiculous computing headline

A man looking perplexed between the Qualcomm and Intel logos.

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Luis Molinero / Intel / Qualcomm)

Is Qualcomm buying Intel? I saw this question plastered over X (cough, Twitter) today, and it got me thinking: what sort of upside-down world are these people living in? Indeed, even some actual news outlets have posted headlines posing the same question, and I’m here to set the record straight.

No, Qualcomm certainly isn’t buying Intel, and won’t be anytime soon. Despite its recent victories with the new Snapdragon X Elite chip, Qualcomm has not approached Intel with any sort of acquisition plan, and Intel itself still appears to be fully committed to its processor business – especially with how impressive its upcoming Lunar Lake chips look.

It’s been a bit of a wild week in terms of computing industry news: AMD revealed that it’s abandoning the flagship gaming GPU and we got our first glimpse of Apple Intelligence at the ‘Glowtime’ event, but it won’t be coming to iPhones or Macs for a little while yet. Among this, Reuters published a report claiming that Qualcomm has “examined acquiring different pieces of Intel”.

Now, that Reuters article contains the phrase ‘sources say’ multiple times in just the first few lines, and Qualcomm itself has refused to comment, so take all of this with a pinch of salt. But to break it down, all we really know is that Intel might be looking to shed some unprofitable parts of its business as it faces some financial turmoil, and Qualcomm might have been interested in buying those business units.

A new fighter enters the ring

There’s no denying that Qualcomm is riding high right now. I personally reported from Computex 2024 in Taipei earlier this year that Qualcomm was the clear winner of the event, with a rousing keynote address that features guest appearances from multiple laptop manufacturer executives, all throwing their collective hats into the Snapdragon ring.

Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit photos from stage and demo samples — The Snapdragon X Elite chip has proved to be a huge shake-up for the laptop processor market. (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)

It’s also no secret that Intel has been struggling a bit as of late; the massive upheaval caused by Snapdragon X Elite’s arrival has shaken up the entire laptop market, an area where Intel has historically dominated. AMD continues to offer fierce competition in other arenas, bringing its powerful systems-on-a-chip to handheld PCs like the Asus ROG Ally X, while the competing Intel-equipped MSI Claw A1M was just… whelming.

Investors also appear to be unhappy with Intel’s recent performance. The processor giant’s market capitalization dropped to $80 billion this week, the lowest it has been in over a decade. Meanwhile, Qualcomm’s market cap sits at $176bn at the time of writing, while long-time competitor AMD sits pretty at $224bn and big dog Nvidia’s AI investments have seen massive returns, bringing them up to a staggering 2.62 trillion dollars.

Never bet against Intel

I have to say, though… I’m not worried. Even if Qualcomm does end up buying out some of Intel’s business ventures – perhaps its client PC design business, as suggested by Reuters’ sources – there’s plenty of potential for Team Blue to bounce back.

With a confirmed release date of September 24 for the new Lunar Lake CPUs as well as a slew of laptops that will come bearing those chips (plus a swiftly-rebooted MSI Claw 8 AI+), Intel is due a resurgence. We’ve also got Intel’s second-gen Arc ‘Battlemage’ discrete GPUs on the horizon, which could be a welcome addition to the affordable graphics card market even if the first-gen Arc cards failed to make a huge splash.

The MSI Claw 8 AI+ being shown off at IFA 2024 — The recently-revealed MSI Claw 8 AI+ will utilize an Intel Lunar Lake chip for its newly boosted gaming capabilities. (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Besides, (without wanting to get political here) Intel isn’t going to go under, because the US Military needs it too much. The chipmaker has numerous long-running contracts and agreements with both the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, so odds are a government-assisted bailout will occur if those straits begin to look a little too dire. So if you're a Team Blue fanboy, have no fear: even the military-industrial complex has your back.

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Christian is TechRadar’s UK-based Computing Editor. He came to us from Maximum PC magazine, where he fell in love with computer hardware and building PCs. He was a regular fixture amongst our freelance review team before making the jump to TechRadar, and can usually be found drooling over the latest high-end graphics card or gaming laptop before looking at his bank account balance and crying.

Christian is a keen campaigner for LGBTQ+ rights and the owner of a charming rescue dog named Lucy, having adopted her after he beat cancer in 2021. She keeps him fit and healthy through a combination of face-licking and long walks, and only occasionally barks at him to demand treats when he’s trying to work from home.