Intel has agreed taken a 20 percent minority stake in the holding company under Tsinghua Unigroup, which will own Spreadtrum Communications and RDA Microselectronics. Under the terms of the agreement, Spreadtrum will jointly create and sell a family of Intel Architecture-based system-on-chips (SoCs). Initial products will be available beginning in the second half of next year and will be Intel Architecture-based SoCs sold by both companies.
The RMB 9 billion (USD 1.5 billion) stake acquisition is expected to close early next year, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
Intel and Tsinghua Unigroup signed a number of coooperation agreements to expand product offerings and adoption for Intel-based mobile devices in China and worldwide. The parties will jointly develop Intel Architecture and communications-based systems for mobile phones. The companies expect Intel's investment to close in early 2015.
