2012 has already been a busy year for M&A at Intel. Last week the semiconductor giant inked a deal to acquire QLogic’s InfiniBand switch, chip, and adapter businesses, and 3 days later Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) said it will buy 190 patents and 170 patent applications from RealNetworks (NASDAQ: RNWK). For $120 million, Intel also gets RealNetworks’ not-yet-released video codec software, which enables fast video compression and decompression.
RealNetworks is the creator of RealPlayer and RealAudio, applications which enable online video and audio. Intel’s purchase of the patents is an indication that the chipmaker is serious about increasing the media capabilities of its chips.
The deal allows RealNetworks to continue to use the patents in some current and future products. Investors like the deal, and since the announcement RealNetworks’ shares have been regaining some of the ground they have lost during recent months.
Intel was a reported bidder for the rich patent portfolio of wireless technology developer InterDigital (NASDAQ: IDCC), which ended a 6 month effort to try to sell its wireless patents one week ago.
InterDigital decided to offer the patents for sale last summer, after bankrupt Nortel Networks sold its patent portfolio for $4.5 billion. But the subsequent decision by Google to buy Motorola Mobility and its patents for $12.9 billion dulled the appetite of one of the biggest potential bidders, and after half a year of trying InterDigital announced last week that it could not find a buyer for the entire portfolio.
