Intel rejects approach from Arm Holdings - report

Intel has rebuffed an approach from Arm Holdings about buying the US chipmaker’s product division, it was reported on Friday.

According to Bloomberg, citing an unnamed person with direct knowledge of the matter, the Wall Street-listed UK firm has been told that the business is not for sale.

Neither Intel nor Arm have commented.

Intel, once the world’s biggest chipmaker, is attempting to turn around its flagging fortunes after disappointing earnings in August saw its shares slide.

It is axing around 15,000 jobs, or 15% of its workforce, scrapping its dividend and pausing new factory openings in Poland and Germany.

It also intends to make its chip manufacturing unit a standalone business. Intel has two core divisions, a product group that sells chips for computers and servers - which Arm was reportedly interested in - and the manufacturing unit.

Intel has increasingly been seen as a potential acquisition target. Earlier this month, it was widely reported that rival Qualcomm had approached Intel about a possible tie-up.

Intel was down 1% in pre-market trading as at 0900 BST, while Arm - which is majority owned by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group - was largely unchanged.