Intel Buys Texas Instruments Cable Modem Unit [Intel May Be Looking to Get Into Home Entertainment]

One thing that’s been on the back burner for Intel for some time now is making inroads into home entertainment. And given the direction home entertainment is moving, that requires three basic components: a PC (or comparable box to plug into the TV), an internet connection, and the media to play on it. Intel enjoys heavy dominance in PC, but not so much on the internet side of things. Thus it was no real surprise to hear that Intel had bought up Texas Instruments’ cable modem arm.

While nobody’s talking about the terms of the deal, set to be finished in this year’s fourth quarter and pretty much ruling out any hope of product in time for Christmas, possibilities emerge that make a lot of sense.
Intel’s on record as saying they want to put out “SoCs (system-on-chips) that provide the foundation for consumer electronic devices such as set-top boxes, digital TVs, Blu-ray disc players, companion boxes and related devices”. And with Texas Instrument’s Puma line available to them, they just might have what they need to go straight to the consumer market instead of being a part of everybody else’s operations.
So what does this mean? It means that Intel just might be putting out their own line of set-top boxes, digital televisions, and the like before too much longer.