With the intentions to move past the PCs, the world’s largest and highest valued chipmaker Intel has acquired Mobileye, a company that develops self-driving technology. This is Intel's big move getting into the car industry.
As told by Cnet, this Monday Intel announced that it agreed to acquire Mobileye, an Israeli company that develops self-driving technology. Mobileye is a driver-assisted technology provider for 27 automakers, including BMW, Ford, Volvo, Audi, and Nissan. The acquisition is worth $63.54 per share, or about $15 billion total. The deal is expected to close in less than a year.
The acquisition will combine Mobileye with Intel’s Automated Driving Group, and it will be headquartered in Israel and led by Amnon Shashua. With this deal, Intel is trying to diversify away from its chip business in personal computers, which have posted weaker sales for years. They have ignored the smartphone technology, but now they’re trying to play catch-up in that market as well.
In the past, Intel tried to grow its company into wearables, smart home, internet of things and virtual reality. Many of these bets have already failed. But with the acquisition of Mobileye, Intel is looking to redeem for its past mistakes. Mobileye already covers 70 percent of the market for modern driver assistance technology. According to Intel, the autonomous driving could become a $70 billion market by 2030. Mobileye in turn, is going to benefit from Intel’s massive global reach and chip making expertise.
According to Market Watch, HIS Market predicts as many as 21 million autonomous vehicles are going to be sold in the year 2035. That means that driver-assistance and automated driving technologies will continue to proliferate across all vehicle segments. The total market for the sensors, sensor fusion technology, and front-view cameras should reach $10 billion by 2022.
Despite all of these predictions, Intel is paying a hefty price today in an already hot but still unproven market. Intel’s investors are hoping that this deal is going to be better than some of its other acquisition in the past, and with Mobileye, it has everything it needs for a complete driverless-car system.
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