Intel has agreed to sell 51 percent of FPGA chip company Altera to private equity firm Silver Lake for $8.75 billion.
The chipmaker will retain a 49 percent stake in Altera, which Intel said will allow it to “participate in Altera’s future success while focusing on its core business.”
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025, subject to closing conditions.
In addition to the sale, Intel also announced that Raghib Hussain will succeed Sandra Rivera as chief executive officer of Altera, effective May 5, 2025. Hussain previously held the position of president of products and technologies at Marvell.
“Today’s announcement reflects our commitment to sharpening our focus, lowering our expense structure, and strengthening our balance sheet,” said Lip-Bu Tan, newly appointed CEO of Intel. “Altera continues to make progress repositioning its product portfolio to participate in the fastest growing and most profitable segments of the FPGA market.”
He added: “We are grateful for Sandra’s strong leadership and lasting impact throughout her 25-year Intel career and wish her continued success as she begins a new chapter… We look forward to partnering with Silver Lake upon closing of the transaction, as their industry expertise will help to accelerate Altera's efforts and unlock additional economic value for Intel.”
Acquired by Intel in 2015 for $16.7bn, Altera merged into Intel’s data center unit under the Programmable Solutions Group (PSG) brand. However, in 2024, Intel announced it was relaunching Altera as a standalone FPGA business, with the company formally announcing its independence in January 2025.
In March 2025, Altera launched its Agilex 3 hardware offering, specifically designed for low-power applications.
According to the company, the Agilex 3 FPGAs bring high-performance capabilities to low-power applications, delivering up to 1.9x higher fabric performance at up to 38 percent lower power when compared to the previous generation of Agilex.
