Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) announced Monday that the chip designer would be buying Israel's Autotalks Ltd as the U.S. firm looks to deepen its automotive business. Autotalks makes chips used in technology aimed at preventing vehicle crashes.
Autotalks makes dedicated chips used in the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications technology for manned and driverless vehicles to improve road safety.
"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, senior vice-president - automotive, Qualcomm Technologies, said in a statement.
Qualcomm on Monday said it would incorporate Autotalks' solutions into Snapdragon Digital Chassis product portfolio, but did not elaborate on the financials of the deal. The Snapdragon Digital Chassis is a comprehensive set of cloud-connected automotive platforms that can provide assisted and autonomous driving technology, as well as in-car infotainment and cloud connectivity.
The acquisition will be made through its unit Qualcomm Technologies, Qualcomm added.
Shares of QCOM are down 0.35% in pre-market trading on Monday.