Qualcomm buys Autotalks to boost SnapDragon Digital Chassis automotive product line

Qualcomm is acquiring fabless Israel-based automobile chip maker Autotalks in a bid to add safety features to its Snapdragon Digital Chassis product family and strengthen its semiconductor product portfolio for the booming car-to-cloud communications and autonomous-driving market.

The Snapdragon Digital Chassis product family is designed to provide assisted and autonomous driving technology, as well as in-car infotainment and cloud connectivity.

Autotalks has been working on vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications since 2009, Qualcomm noted in its  announcement of the deal on Monday. The Israel-based company provides automotive dual-mode global V2X technology compatible with multiple V2X standards that are designed to reduce collisions and improve mobility, Qualcom said.

V2X technology is designed to enable vehicles to communicate with one another and their surrounding environment. V2X communication technologies play an increasingly important role as they become critical sensors for automotive safety systems, Qualcomm noted.

“We have been investing in V2X research, development and deployment since 2017 and believe that as the automotive market matures, a standalone V2X safety architecture will be needed for enhanced road user safety, as well as smart transportation systems,” Nakul Duggal, general manager for automotive technology, said in the Qualcomm announcement.

The financial terms of the deal were not revealed, but based on Qualcomm’s market capitalization, which amounts to more than $120 billion,  the Jerusalem Post estimated that Qualcomm paid $350 million to $400 million for the Israeli company. The $350 million-$400 million range for the deal was also cited by sources in a report by TechCrunch.  Qualcomm said that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Autotalks, and that the transaction is subject to “customary closing conditions.”

Last September, Qualcomm said that its automotive business pipeline had increased to $30 billion, up more than $10 billion in just two months, according to a Reuters report.

The company said the size of the automotive market that it is targeting could grow to as large as $100 billion by 2030.

Qualcomm has also announced an expanded partnership with Mercedes Benz Group AG, which will use the Snapdragon Cockpit for its in-car infotainment system from this year.