Qualcomm announced today that it finalized a deal to buy Atheros Communications for about $3.1 billion, or $45 per share.
San Jose-based Atheros supplies "connectivity" technology for networking equipment, computing and consumer device manufacturers.
Atheros president and CEO, Craig H. Barratt, is expected to join Qualcomm as president of networking and connectivity.
"Qualcomm and Atheros have a long history of collaboration and share a culture of technical innovation and execution excellence," Barratt said.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2011.
"It is Qualcomm's strategy to continually integrate additional technologies into mobile devices to make them the primary way that people communicate, compute and access content. This acquisition is a natural extension of that strategy into other types of devices," said Paul Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm. "The combination of Qualcomm and Atheros is intended to accelerate this opportunity by utilizing best-in-class products for communications, computing and consumer electronics to broaden existing customer relationships and expand access to new partners and distribution channels."
