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Intel has confirmed it is going to buy Lantiq, a German manufacturer that produces network chips.
It’s part of Intel’s continuing effort to tap into the nascent ‘Internet of Things’ market.
Intel has chosen not to disclose how much it’s spending on the acquisition, but revealed the deal was agreed today, as reported by Reuters.
The chipmaker was previously bought up by private equity firm Golden Gate Capital back in 2009, a buyout which then amounted to some 250 million euros (£185m).
Despite being only a month into 2015, we’ve already seen a huge push for smart home technology, with the connected tech a clear mainstay of the CES tradeshow earlier this year.
Lantiq produces a wide range of connected chips for both wired and wireless connections.
Its typical clientele consists of telecom firms and broadband providers, which will likely continue under the new Intel leadership.
Related: Nest purchase is bad for everyone, except Google
This isn’t the first smart home acquisition we’ve seen from a big technology firm in recent times, and it certainly won’t be the last.
2014 saw Google pick up Nest for a mega $3.2 billion (£2.1bn). Nest is one of the more prominent smart home manufacturers, famous for its smart thermostat range.
Samsung also threw down big bucks in 2014 for smart home tech, shelling out a slightly more meagre $200 million (£133m) for SmartThings, an IoT software firm.
