New Delhi

Intel Corp. shares rose after the Wall Street Journal said Qualcomm Inc. approached the company about a takeover, a potential record-setting deal for the chip industry, according to a report by Bloomberg.

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According to the newspaper, citing unnamed people familiar with the situation, the talks took place in the past few days. A deal is still far from certain, the Journal said. Representatives for both companies declined to comment.

Shares rose 3.4 per cent to $21.87 in New York trading Friday, recovering from an earlier decline. The stock remains down 56 per cent this year.

Intel, once the world's largest chipmaker, has been suffering flagging sales and mounting losses that have eroded the technological edge it once enjoyed. As things stand now, the company's valuation, at $93.5 billion, is now roughly half that of Qualcomm. Still, a takeover would be the largest-ever transaction in the semiconductor market and could reshuffle the landscape.

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Qualcomm, based in San Diego, dropped 2.9 per cent as concerns about the risks of this type of deal spooked investors.

Santa Clara, California-based Intel reported this week it was implementing a slew of overhauls in an effort to restore its business. The changes included a multibillion-dollar deal with Amazon.com Inc. to create a custom AI semiconductor and a plan to turn Intel's flagging manufacturing business into a wholly owned subsidiary.

Qualcomm designs the world's most processors for smartphones but has been trying to diversify itself. That includes chips that will run personal computers, where Intel is still the dominant player.

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Like much of the industry, Qualcomm does not make its own chips. It outsources production to partners such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which also makes chips for Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Buying Intel would give Qualcomm access to its own US-based production as well as the biggest brand in the market for PCs and traditional server computers.

The problems of Intel, however, would not be solved through a takeover from Qualcomm. The would-be suitor also does not have experience in manufacturing or doing the science behind the production of cutting-edge technology — an area where TSMC excels.

Over six years ago, Qualcomm was found mired in a very contentious takeover saga by Broadcom Inc. Broadcom subsequently backed away from its bid after President Donald Trump blocked the deal, citing national security risks.