SAN FRANCISCO — Talk about a new meaning for “Intel Inside.” Intel Corp. wants to be inside your television. And your cellphone. And your car. And pretty much any other device that could one day connect to the Internet and require a computer chip.
And with its deal to buy Mc Afee Inc. for $7.68 billion, the world’s No. 1 semiconductor company now wants to sell you security software as well — in all those places.
The all-cash deal, announced Thursday, marks the biggest acquisition in Intel’s 42-year history, an expensive example of Intel’s commitment to sell more than chips for personal computers and servers. It is the sixth-biggest deal globally between two technology companies in the past 3 1/2 years, according to Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor’s.
But the deal is also a reminder of Intel’s inconsistency in finding ways to grow. The company is an infrequent acquirer with a history of dabbling in, and retreating from, markets outside its core business. It once even had a toy division that made microscopes and other gadgets — a project Intel eventually gave up because of poor sales.
McAfee has about 6,100 employees and last year brought in $1.93 billion in revenue. The company employs about 200 at an office in Englewood.
Intel has 79,800 employees and $35.13 billion in revenue.
Once the deal closes, as expected, McAfee would help Intel improve the security of its chips, which are inside about 80 percent of the world’s PCs and servers. It also would open a new revenue stream for Intel, which plans to sell McAfee’s software alongside its chips for PCs and other Internet-connected devices.
Joint products from the companies won’t appear until 2011.
The announcement worried some Intel investors because it takes Intel so far afield of what it is best at, which is making microprocessors, the “brains” of computers. Intel shares fell 63 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $18.96.
Some analysts questioned the wisdom of buying McAfee when Intel could have gotten many of the same technical gains by continuing the two companies’ partnership.
