Intel Corp. is buying startup Barefoot Networks Inc. in a bid to scale up the smaller company’s networking-chip technology and compete with Broadcom Inc.
While Intel INTC, +1.67% is the largest computer-chip maker in the U.S., it doesn’t currently make chips that manage communication via Ethernet, a widely used technology to connect a vast network of computers and servers. That arena is dominated by San Jose-based Broadcom AVGO, +1.94% .
Read: Broadcom discloses new Apple deal, stock rises
The purchase, Intel executive vice president Navin Shenoy said, is aimed to address an explosion of data that has bolstered demand for computing power to analyze it and networking systems to exchange it within data centers.
Shenoy said the deal is expected to close in the third quarter, he said, declining to give its value.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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