Takeover talks between chipmakers Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) and Altera Corp (NASDAQ: ALTR) have reportedly broken off
Media reports suggest the two companies could not come to an agreement on price.
In trading shortly after the opening bell, Altera shares were down 0.3% to $41.86 U.S., and Intel were flat at $31.29 U.S.
The development comes about two weeks after the two were reported to have been in discussions for Intel to buy Altera in a deal that could have topped $10 billion U.S.
At the close of trading on Wednesday, Altera had a market capitalization of $12.6 billion U.S. Its shares had surged more than 20% from its closing level before the merger talks were first reported by the Wall Street Journal on March 27.
Spokespeople for both Intel and Altera could not immediately be reached for comment.
Had the deal gone ahead, the takeover would have been Intel's largest-ever acquisition, topping its $7.7-billion U.S. purchase of security software maker McAfee in 2011.
Altera was said to appeal to Intel for its line of programmable chips, increasingly used in data centers and customized after their production for functions such as providing web-search results or updating social networks.
