As a part of Intel's strategy of devouring businesses that do not exactly fit its IDM 2.0 strategy, the company this week quietly started to exit its wireless wire area network (WWAN) business. The move has been in development for a while and while Intel is set to cease making 4G and 5G modems itself, it will continue to provide notebook solutions based on its CPUs yet equipped with MediaTek-badged modems, reports More Than Moore.
While the world is getting more connected, connectivity is perhaps becoming a commodity business for companies like Intel that strive to be vertically integrated yet sell their products at high margins. This is perhaps why the company sold its 4G and 5G smartphone/tablet modem business to Apple back in mid-2019 and this is why it is selling the remaining business to MediaTek. For MediaTek, Intel's PC modem technology will enable it to offer connectivity solutions for the whole stack of client devices, starting from humble Internet-of-Things gadgets and ending up with advanced ultrabooks used by road warriors.
