Intel agrees to acquire GlobalFoundries for $30 billion

Intel Corp is in talks to buy semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries Inc for about $30 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported as saying on Thursday.

According to the report talks come as a semiconductor shortage is hobbling industries around the globe. A deal could help Intel ramp up production of chips at a time demand is at its peak and the company is looking to start producing chips for car makers that have struggled to keep operations running due to severe shortages.

Intel, one of the last companies in the semiconductor industry that both designs and manufactures its own chips, said earlier this year it would expand its advanced chip manufacturing capacity by spending as much as $20 billion to invest in factories in the US.

GlobalFoundries, which is owned by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co, has a manufacturing footprint across the US Europe and Asia.

There are reports that Mubadala is looking at a potential listing of GlobalFoundries later in the year. GlobalFoundries’ customers includes Advanced Micro Devices Inc, its parent company before it was spun off more than a decade earlier, a relationship that could spark antitrust questions about an Intel deal.