The world's biggest chip maker, Intel, has now agreed to buy the security technology firm, McAfee.

Intel will pay about $7.68bn (£5bn) in cold hard cash.

Under the terms and conditions of the acquisition, Intel said it would pay around $48 per share in cash for McAfee, almost 60% higher than its closing price on Wednesday.

In a company statement, Intel said that the acquisition was a reflection of how security is now paramount in modern day computing.

Intel added that today's security approach was less than adequate with millions of devices on the market without approporiate security software.

The board of directors for both firms have unanimously agreed to the deal.

McAfee, also based in Santa Clara turned over $2 billion last year.

Posted: 19/08/10 15:01