Intel Reportedly In Talks To Buy Altera

(RTTNews) - Intel Corp. (INTC), the world's biggest chipmaker, is in advanced talks to buy programmable chipmaker Altera Corp. (ALTR), the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

It wasn't immediately clear how much Intel would pay for a deal, the Journal said. However, several media reports said the purchase price could exceed $10 billion. At that price, it would be Intel's biggest acquisition, surpassing its $7.7 billion purchase of security software maker McAfee in 2011.

San Jose, California-based Altera ended Friday with market capitalization of $13.36 billion. The company's shares closed Friday's regular trading session at $44.39, up $9.81 or 28.39%, and gained an additional 2.05% in after hours trading. Intel shares closed the day's regular trading session at $32.00, up $1.92 or 6.38%.