Intel is in talks to buy chipmaker Altera, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Altera makes programmable chips used in cellphone towers, the military and other industrial applications. The company also makes a broad range of low-power programmable semiconductors, which are used in small embedded devices and computer servers for big data center. A possible acquisition by Intel could help the company expand into new markets beyond personal computers.

Terms of the potential deal for Altera and its timing were not known, the Journal reported.

Both Intel and Altera declined to comment on the report.

In 2013, Intel agreed to manufacture chips on behalf of Altera. Since then the two companies have also expanded their cooperation to include other kinds of chip development.

Altera is valued at $10.4 billion at Thursday's close.