Intel Looks Inside the Living Room

Chipmaker Intel will acquire Israeli semiconductor maker Oplus Technologies, both companies announced Thursday. Although financial terms of the deal were not disclosed publicly, the Israeli media put the value of the deal at about $100 million.

Intel hopes the deal will get its chips into set-top boxes and digital televisions, a market that the company has so far been unable to break. Oplus' chips process and enhance video signals in high-definition TVs before they are displayed on the screen.

"Oplus' display expertise and competitive products will enable us to deliver compelling solutions for OEMs in this rapidly growing market segment," Glenda Dorchak, vice president of the Digital Home Group at Intel, said in a statement. "Oplus products have created a new standard for image quality, color reproduction, noise reduction and sharpness."

Oplus will initially become a subsidiary of Intel according to preliminary reports on the deal.

The acquisition would mark the second time Intel has attempted a venture into the living room. In October, the company abandoned a year-old plan to enter the chipmaking business for digital televisions and compete with rival Texas Instruments.