On Friday afternoon The Wall Street Journal reported that Intel has been approached by chip giant Qualcomm about a possible acquisition. While a deal is considered “far from certain,” according to the paper's anonymous sources, it would be a huge blow for a company that was once the world's most valuable chip company, largely based on its x86 processor technology, which triumphed over Qualcomm's Arm chips for years outside of the phone space.

If a deal were to go through – and survive regulatory scrutiny – it would be a huge win for Qualcomm, which re-entered the desktop processor market this year as part of Microsoft's AI PC strategy after years of dominance in mobile processors.

At the time, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said the company would shut down all non-essential work, and has since announced it will spin off its chipmaking business, a part of the company that has long been touted as a strength against rival AMD and the many fab-less chipmakers that rely on companies like Taiwan's TSMC to produce all their silicon.

Intel has also recently had to rely partially on TSMC to produce its most advanced chips as it continues to revamp its own manufacturing facility (the costs of which are responsible for most of Intel's recent losses), and its own 18A manufacturing process has also reportedly experienced problems recently.

Update, September 20: Confirmation by NYT added.