Qualcomm has entered into an agreement to acquire Atheros, which specialises in technologies for wired and wireless local area connectivity in the computing, networking and consumer electronics industries for $45 per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of $3.1bn.

The acquisition is intended to help accelerate the expansion of Qualcomm’s technologies and platforms to new businesses beyond cellular and provide access to significant new growth opportunities. Atheros’ current president and CEO, Dr. Craig H. Barratt, is expected to join Qualcomm as president of Qualcomm Networking & Connectivity.

The transaction has been approved by the Qualcomm and Atheros boards of directors and is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of domestic and foreign regulatory approvals and the approval of Atheros’ stockholders. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2011. Qualcomm says it intends to finalize its estimates of the transaction’s financial impact, as well as the accounting for the transaction, upon deal close.

“It is Qualcomm’s strategy to continually integrate additional technologies into mobile devices to make them the primary way that people communicate, compute and access content,” says Qualcomm chairman and CEO, Dr. Paul E. Jacobs. “This acquisition is a natural extension of that strategy into other types of devices. The combination of Qualcomm and Atheros is intended to accelerate this opportunity by utilizing best-in-class products for communications, computing and consumer electronics to broaden existing customer relationships and expand access to new partners and distribution channels.”