Intel rumoured to buy AMD's wafer supplier

[Alpine]

Is SOITEC in takeover danger?

EVEN THOUGH MOST industry insiders reIated to Intel constantly downplay the value of Silicon-on-Insulator technology, Bloomberg decided to speed up things by suggesting that Intel plans to takeo ver SOITEC.

This company is one of the world's largest SOI wafer suppliers and a key partner of AMD - Chimpzilla buys almost all of its wafers from this shop.

We asked around and this news should be considered a rumour and nothing else, even though it is not impossible. At last year's IDF in San Francisco, Intel demonstrated its vision of future of interconnects. This vision of transferring data via optical connection used SOI chips, since SOI technology was a requirement at the time for the laser to work.

Even if the deal does go through, it would require a massive change in Chipzilla's own policy when it comes to communication with industry analysts and the press, since downplaying SOI would have to go into tthe oilet - and SOI would have to be considered as the best thing after sliced bread.

Seeing how IBM, AMD, Sony and Microsoft extensively use SOI technology in their products, it would be quite an interesting thing to see what happens if and when Intel shows up at the table.



The INQuirer