Intel Buys InterDigital?s Patents for $375 Million

By David Zielenziger | June 18 2012 4:07 PM

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), the No. 1 chipmaker, said it would acquire 1,700 patents from wireless specialist InterDigital Inc. (Nasdaq: IDCC) for $375 million.

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The move comes nearly a year after InterDigital, an engineering company in King of Prussia, Pa., put itself up for sale after a syndicate led by Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, paid $4.5 billion for patents from defunct Nortel Networks.

Intel, in Santa Clara, Calif., previously bought wireless patents from German chipmaker Infineon Technologies (Pink: IFNNY) for $1.4 billion to bolster its wireless product line in the Centrino family.

Shares of InterDigital, which also announced a $200 million share buyback, rose as much as 30 percent to $30.28 before falling back to close at $29.08, up $6.20 or 27 percent. Intel closed at $27.42, up 8 cents.

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