On Monday, Intel Corporation announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell 51% of its Altera semiconductor business to private equity firm Silver Lake.
The deal, which values Altera at $8.75 billion, will make Altera “operationally independent,” Intel said in a press release. Intel will retain a 49% stake in Altera, which will be led by Raghib Hussain, who will succeed Sandra Rivera as CEO on May 5.
“Today’s announcement reflects our commitment to sharpening our focus, reducing our cost structure and strengthening our balance sheet,” Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in a statement. “Altera continues to make progress in repositioning its product portfolio to participate in the fastest growing and most profitable segments of the FPGA market.”
Altera was founded in 1983 by semiconductor industry veterans Rodney Smith, Robert Hartmann, James Sansbury and Paul Newhagen. The company develops a range of programmable chips, known as field programmable gate arrays, or FPGAs, and software to support them, including for industries such as communications, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
Intel acquired Altera in 2015 for $16.7 billion, and it became a newly created business unit called the Programmable Solutions Group (PSG). In 2023, Intel announced that it would spin off PSG into a separate company, while retaining a majority stake and intending to hold an IPO within three years.
This decision was made amid the rapid growth of the FPGA sector. According to one analysis, the FPGA market could grow from $12.1 billion last year to $25.8 billion by 2029.
According to Intel, in fiscal year 2024, Altera generated revenue of $1.54 billion.
The deal with Silver Lake is expected to close in the second half of 2025, Intel said, subject to customary closing conditions.
