Intel Sells Optical Storage Assets, Connects Cables Business

Intel has sold one more technology asset as well as one more business as part of its ongoing streamlining process. The company today said that the enterprise and storage assets of its Optical Platform Division as well as its Connects Cables business will be handed over to Emcore. In exchange, Intel will get 3.7 million Emcore shares, valued at about $27.5 million at the time of this writing.

According to Intel, the transaction includes intellectual property, inventory, fixed assets and technology relating to optical transceivers for enterprise and storage customers, as well as optical cable interconnects for high-performance computing clusters. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of this year. Emcore believes that the acquisition of the technology will result in about $45 million of additional revenue over the next 12 months.

While there was no information on how many jobs will be affected by this transaction, sources told us that Intel jobs may be transitioned or cut as part of this deal. It appears to be yet another stage in a process in which Intel focuses more and more on its core CPU and chipset business while shedding weight that has been added over the past decade. This process began with the sale of its Xscale business to Marvell in June of 2006. Since then, Intel has reduced its global workforce by more than 16,000 people from about 102,500 to currently 86,300.