Intel Sells 51% of Altera for $4.46B, Valuation Drops 47.6%

On April 14, 2025, Intel Corporation announced it has finalized an agreement to sell 51% of its FPGA subsidiary, Altera, to global technology investment leader Silver Lake. The transaction values Altera at $8.75 billion, meaning Intel will receive over $4.46 billion, which is expected to improve the company's financial outlook. However, the deal's valuation is notably lower than the $16.7 billion Intel spent to acquire Altera in 2015, reflecting a 47.6% decrease in valuation.

Once the deal is completed, Altera will operate as an independent entity, positioning itself to become the largest dedicated FPGA semiconductor solutions company. Altera will focus on driving growth and innovation in FPGA technologies to meet the demands of AI-driven markets. Intel will retain a 49% stake in Altera, allowing the company to remain involved in Altera's future success while focusing on its core business.

The transaction is expected to be finalized in the second half of 2025, pending the usual closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

Following the transaction, Intel plans to separate Altera's financial performance from its consolidated financial statements. In the 2024 fiscal year, Altera reported revenue of $1.54 billion, with a GAAP gross margin of $361 million and a GAAP operating loss of $615 million. Altera's non-GAAP gross margin for fiscal 2024 was $769 million, with non-GAAP operating income of $35 million.

Intel also announced that Raghib Hussain will succeed Sandra Rivera as CEO of Altera, effective May 5, 2025. Hussain is a visionary technology executive with strong business acumen and engineering credentials. Before joining Altera, he served as President of Products and Technologies at Marvell. Prior to Marvell, he was the Chief Operating Officer at Cavium, a company he co-founded. Hussain has also held engineering roles at Cisco and Cadence and was a key player in the founding of enterprise security company VPNet.

For over 40 years, Altera has been at the forefront of FPGA innovation, providing leading programmable solutions that are easy to deploy across strategic sectors such as industrial, communications, data centers, military, aerospace, government, and emerging markets like AI/edge and robotics. Altera's broad portfolio of programmable semiconductor solutions, software, and development tools offers the reliability and flexibility necessary to accelerate technological innovation for its customers.