Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) plans to dominate the supply of wireless chips for tablet devices such as Apple's iPad with its $3.2 billion planned purchase of Atheros Communications Inc (ATHR.O). The San Diego based company is already a major supplier of microchips that handle data and voice communication in phones. But until now, Qualcomm has made less progress on its own in developing chips that incorporate advanced networking functions in tablet devices such as the iPad. With Atheros, it is buying a key producer of chips used in WiFi, Bluetooth and Ethernet networking, along with GPS systems.
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