It's close.

The Wall Street Journal said Sunday the pending Intel takeover of Altera will be worth $17 billion, and could be announced early Monday.

That's up from the $15 billion price tag the New York Post reported Friday, and Altera's $10.4 billion market value before word broke of the two companies' talks last March.

Altera makes field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), versatile chips that can be tailored to perform specialized functions in everything from digital cameras to server farms.

It would be the biggest deal in Intel's history, handily topping the $7.7 billion it agreed to pay for McAfee in 2010.

Altera was among the first customers to contract to use Intel's factories to make its chips, giving the company access to Intel's leading-edge manufacturing technology. The deal would solidify the relationship and likely steer more production toward Intel's factories.

More importantly to Intel, perhaps, is that Altera's FPGA's can be used to accelerate performance of high-octane servers inside data centers. Data centers are Intel's fastest-growing and most profitable segment, of vital importance to the company as sales of PCs and laptops sag.

The chip industry is awash in takeovers as companies consolidate, pooling operations to cut expenses, increase profit margins and provide their clients access to a broader set of technologies.

Intel employs 17,500 in Oregon, more than any other business.

-- Mike Rogoway

mrogoway@oregonian.com

503-294-7699

@rogoway