“This acquisition supports our commitment to delivering cutting-edge IoT solutions and strengthens our position as a leader in intelligence at the edge,” said Qualcomm’s Nakul Duggal.

Chipmaker Qualcomm has completed its acquisition of Sequans Communications’ 4G IoT technology for $200 million in a move to significantly enhance the company’s semiconductor portfolio around the Internet of Things (IoT).

With Sequans’ Monarch chips Qualcomm looks to bring new value to Qualcomm’s product portfolio as the Monarch series offers improved performance, less power consumption and smaller size semiconductors compared to Qualcomm’s chips.

“This acquisition supports our commitment to delivering cutting-edge IoT solutions and strengthens our position as a leader in intelligence at the edge,” said Nakul Duggal, group general manager for automotive, industrial and embedded IoT, and cloud computing at Qualcomm in a statement.

[Related: Qualcomm Reportedly Approached Intel About Takeover]

France-based Sequans specializes in providing 4G and 5G semiconductor products targeting the IoT market.

Duggal said adding Sequans’ 4G IoT technology into Qualcomm’s broad product portfolio, adds to “our robust, low-power solutions for dependable and optimized cellular connectivity for industrial IoT applications.”

Qualcomm’s $5.6 Billion IoT Business

Qualcomm has been striving to grow its IoT business for several years now in an effort to diversify.

During Qualcomm’s fiscal 2024 third quarter the company generated $1.4 billion in revenue from IoT, representing roughly flat year-over-year sales growth. This means Qualcomm’s IoT annual run rate is currently $5.6 billion.

Under the Qualcomm-Sequans deal, Sequans will retain full rights to continue to use its technology commercially, via a perpetual license agreement, supporting the company’s ability to expand its 4G business and develop its 5G portfolio.

“This validates the strength of our technology and ensures that our customers will continue to receive top-tier support on our 4G portfolio and cutting-edge 5G innovation from Sequans,” said Sequans CEO Georges Karam in a statement,

“With a robust balance sheet, proven technology and a comprehensive portfolio that includes low-power LTE-M/NB-IoT, LTE Cat 1bis and the upcoming 5G Redcap/eRedCap technology, Sequans is very well positioned in the market,” the Sequans CEO said.

Qualcomm Reportedly Eyes Intel Takeover

Sequans’ IoT technology isn’t the only semiconductor industry acquisition Qualcomm has reportedly looked at.

Last month, it was reported that Qualcomm approached Intel about a takeover.

Intel has seen its revenue drop 14 percent from $63.1 billion in 2022 to $54.2 billion in 2023. Comparatively, Qualcomm generated $35.8 billion in its 2023 fiscal year, down from $44 billion the previous fiscal year.

In August, Intel announced a $10 billion cost-cutting plan that would result in 15,000 jobs being lost.

Qualcomm specializes in chips for mobile, smart homes, automotive, cellular networks, Internet of Things and Wi-Fi network applications. The company counts Apple as a customer for its Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF systems.