WiFi consolidation

So the consolidation is starting, according to rumors on the acquisition of Intersil by TI:

Wireless LAN chipset vendor Intersil Corp.’s (Nasdaq: ISIL – message board) stock was up today on rumors that the company is going to be acquired by Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN – message board).

TI is renown as a great second-source manufacturer, if not a fabled engineer, so this deal would place three fab-owning manufacturers ahead of the pack to deliver WiFi chips, which is not good news for the smaller, fabless contenders whose product strategy is dictated by engineering managers.