Apple Buys Intrinsity

The rumors were true. Intrinsity, the semiconductor design house believed to be responsible for the CPU core in Apple’s A4 processor has been acquired. And the purchaser was indeed Apple (AAPL). The company has confirmed the acquisition to The New York Times. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though Microprocessor Report analyst Tom Halfhill figures Intrinsity likely fetched a price of $121 million — pocket change for Apple, which is sitting on some $40 billion in cash.

Like Apple’s 2008 buyout of boutique semiconductor design company P.A. Semi, its acquisition of Intrinsity is quite a coup. The company is reknowned for designing hot-rod chips with low power consumption.