[derefr]

> Intel's modems are more valuable to Apple than they are to other players, including Intel

That implies that Intel has the leverage. Intel's BATNA is to just let the modem IP rot. It's a sunk cost. They can just walk away from the negotiating table, and they'll be choosing to get $0 + ($small * potential of selling to anyone else = $ε) instead of $1B.

Apple's BATNA, meanwhile, is for Qualcomm to steamroll them and force them into expensive concessions across the board, and they're willing to pay through the nose to avoid that. Their choice is between $1B to intel and likely far more than $1B to Qualcomm.

[ineedasername]

Yes, and Apple still has lots of cash on hand, >$200billion. $1billion is a small price to pay in order to solidify a strong bargaining position with a multi-billion dollar vendor contract that has been a legal and financial thorn in their side. Especially given their long term roadmap for i-devices has been one of gradual vertical integration.

[rjvs]

If Intel hadn’t sold to Apple, they would have had to pay out severance packages to 2200 engineers, plus break costs on whatever ongoing contracts existed (leases etc). So the comparison isn’t +$1B against $0, more like +$1B against -$1B (or at least a decent fraction of that), with the costs growing every day that the negotiations continued and the likelihood of a sale to anyone else continuing to drop (from a very low base).