Intel will buy 1,700 patents and patent applications for $375 million in cash from InterDigital, Inc.

The agreement involves patents primarily related to 3G, LTE and 802.11 technologies. InterDigital is an active developer of advanced wireless technologies including WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), HSDPA (High Speed Download Packet Access) and HSUPA (High Speed Upload Packet Access) 3G technologies as well as LTE (Long Term Evolution) and LTE-Advanced 4G technologies.

"The acquisition of this portfolio of InterDigital's technologies by a global technology leader like Intel affirms the efforts of our research and development team which actively shares our innovations with the worldwide standards bodies, defining technologies that are central to the world's major wireless systems and devices," said Scott McQuilkin, Senior Executive Vice President, Strategy and Finance at InterDigital.

"This transaction, which involves a small portion of our overall patent portfolio, marks an important milestone of InterDigital's stated strategy of expanding the monetization of its large and growing intellectual property portfolio. By executing on our business plan, which has been broadened to include patent sales, licensing partnerships and other possibilities, we see tremendous potential to expand revenue and build shareholder value."

"These patents will support Intel's strategic investments in the mobile segment," said Doug Melamed, Intel Senior Vice President and General Counsel. "The addition of these patents expands our already large, strong and diverse portfolio of intellectual property."

The companies expect the transaction to be completed in third quarter 2012, subject to customary closing conditions and any required regulatory approvals.

InterDigital also announced on Monday that its board had authorized a doubling of its share buyback authorization to $200 million from $100 million. It also said it was sticking by its revenue target of $71 million for the second quarter, including the sale of other patents for $9 million in a separate deal. The companies expect the deal to close in the third quarter.

Evercore Partners acted as InterDigital financial adviser and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich 7 Rosati acted as legal counsel.

InterDigital shares were up $6.36 to $29.24 in afternoon trade on Nasdaq. Intel shares, also on Nasdaq, rose 16 cents to $27.50.