Qualcomm to buy Atheros for $3.1 billion

By Mike Freeman
Wednesday, January 5, 2011 at 8:20 a.m.

Qualcomm announced Wednesday that it has reached an agreement to buy Atheros Communications of Santa Clara for $3.1 billion, the largest deal ever for the San Diego-based wireless giant.

Atheros gives Qualcomm a boost in wireless chips that aren’t involved in linking phones to cellular networks, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It helps open up markets for Qualcomm in Wi-Fi enabled tablet computers, cell phones with Wi-Fi capability and even laptop computers.

“The acquisition is intended to help accelerate the expansion of Qualcomm’s technologies and platforms to new businesses beyond cellular and provide access to significant new growth opportunities,â€