Marking the end of 2015, Intel bought out Altera in an all-cash purchase of approximately $16.7 billion. Altera will no longer keep its original name. Instead, it will be part of Intel’s business group under the new brand called the Programmable Solutions Group (PSG), with Dan McNamara, Altera’s former vice president and general manager for its embedded and systems division, at the helm.

Altera’s main focus of production was field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and Intel wants the PSG to continue working in that field. However, it will also collaborate with Intel’s Data Center and Internet of Things groups to create new products. As for those who still utilise Altera’s products, Intel assured customers that it will support current and future devices created by the PSG, such as its lineup of FPGAs and ARM-based SoCs.

Prior to the purchase of Altera, the two companies had collaborated in the past. In 2013, Intel had announced that its 14nm tri-gate transistor technology would include Altera’s FPGAs. Later that same year, Altera’s Stratix 10 SoC devices would incorporate a quad-core, 64-bit ARM Cortex A53 processor.

Written by: Ajith Ram