It’s conceivable Qualcomm’s CEO, Cristiano Amon, imagines a grand alliance of sorts with Intel to really challenge Nvidia in AI, or that he sees the possibility of throwing Intel a financial lifeline,

The chipmaker Qualcomm has approached its rival Intel in recent days about the possibility of acquiring the slumping Silicon Valley giant, two people familiar with the matter said Friday, requesting anonymity because the talks were confidential.

Qualcomm Inc. has approached Intel Corp. to discuss a potential acquisition of the struggling chipmaker, a person with knowledge of the matter said, raising the prospect of one of the biggest-ever M&A deals.