Intel Acquires LSI’s Axxia Networking Business Unit From Avago For $650 Million

A little bit of celebrating is in order for Avago Technologies, which said it signed a definitive agreement to sell LSI's Axxia Networking Business to Intel, the world's larger supplier of semiconductors, for $650 million in cash. The boards of directors for both Avago and Intel have already approved the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2014, barring any regulatory snags along the way.

Avago owns an extensive portfolio of intellectual property serving markets in wireless communications, wired infrastructure, enterprise storage, and industrial. The Axxia business, which Avago came to own when it acquired LSI at the end of last year for $6.6 billion, is mostly involved in enterprise networking products and solutions.

Axxia Networking Business

The deal with Intel falls in line with Avago's desire to divest parts of LSI. And for Intel, the chip maker adds IP to its portfolio that it hopes will accelerate its strategy to become a leader in platform solutions for the network infrastructure. Looking longer term, Intel wants to help operators build a more efficient, scalable, and flexible network to keep up with future bandwidth demands, the company said.

According to Avago, the Axxia Networking Business Networking Business generated $113 million in revenues last year and is home to around 650 employees.