Intel strikes deal with Nokia

Bloomberg reports that Intel (INTC) will sell processors for Nokia (NOK) mobile devices, “marking the biggest breakthrough in Intel’s expansion into the phone market.”

Intel has struggled for about a decade to get a foothold in the market for mobile-phone chips. With Nokia being the biggest cell phone maker in the world, even just a piece of their business is a tremendous victory for Intel.

Intel microprocessors, which are like the central nervous system of a computer, are used in more than 80% of the world’s PCs. The mobile phone market, however, will provide important diversification for Intel, who derives about 90% of sales from computers chips.

Intel announced in February that they struck a deal with LG Electronics, the world’s third-largest phone maker, to use Intel chips in a mobile Internet device that is a cross between a mobile phone and a computer.
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Peter J. Lazaroff