Intel Completes Purchase Of Basis Science, Which Will Join Intel's Device's Group
Intel has just announced its acquisition of Basis Science, the hot wearable technology company based in San Francisco. As TechCrunch first reported, the startup went to the chipmaker for around $100 million.
Context & Ripple Effects
TechCrunch reported three weeks ago that Intel had won the auction for Basis Science at around $100 million (Intel's move on the health-tracking wristwatch maker); today's announcement confirms the deal has closed, with Basis joining Intel's Devices Group rather than being absorbed into a chip unit. The pickup was broad — Intel Newsroom, The Verge, Computerworld, eWeek, VentureBeat, Business Insider and others all carried it — reflecting how closely the watch world is tracking every large-chip entrant.
The strategic logic sits against the backdrop of Intel's confirmed push into new connectivity markets this month, including Silicon Photonics and 800Gbps optical cables pitched alongside partners — a company visibly working to build demand beyond its traditional PC franchise, with consumer wearables one of the few categories growing fast enough to matter.
First-order effects
- Basis Science's San Francisco team and its health-tracking wristband line now sit inside Intel's Devices Group, giving the chipmaker an owned consumer product and a working sensor-and-analytics stack instead of a reference design.
Second-order effects
- Rivals shipping wristbands — Fitbit, Nike's FuelBand effort, Samsung's Galaxy Gear line — now compete against a buyer whose real return comes if Basis products pull through demand for Intel silicon, letting Intel price the device business as a platform investment rather than a margin business.
Third-order effects
- If PC-centric chipmakers keep buying consumer-device teams to seed markets for their own components, the industry drifts toward vertically integrated stacks in wearables, squeezing standalone device startups whose exit options narrow to the same handful of semiconductor buyers.
The trend: Semiconductor incumbents are acquiring consumer device and software teams outright to manufacture demand for their silicon in post-PC categories, with wearables the current battleground.