Intel announced a definitive agreement to buy all of McAfee's common stock for $7.68 billion, in a move unanimously supported by the board of directors of both companies.

The deal, which is part of Intel's new strategy to focus on security as much as it does on energy efficiency, has still to get the go ahead from McAfee's shareholders and regulators.

However, when it's finalized, McAfee will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel, operating within its Software and Services Group.

This will effectively transform the leading chip maker into one of the biggest players on the computer security market almost overnight.

It's not hard to imagine that Intel will combine its capabilities and resources in the hardware development area with McAfee's extensive security know-how to produce new solutions that will possibly change the security landscape.

"Hardware-enhanced security will lead to breakthroughs in effectively countering the increasingly sophisticated threats of today and tomorrow," commented Renée James, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the company's Software and Services Group.

McAfee has over 6,000 employees worldwide and last year reported a revenue of almost $2 billion. Furthermore, the company has one of the largest portfolios of end-point and network security solutions and has registered sustained double-digit growth year after year.

"The addition of McAfee products and technologies into the Intel computing portfolio brings us incredibly talented people with a track record of delivering security innovations, products and services that the industry and consumers trust to make connecting to the Internet safer and more secure," said Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel.

The new product concepts developed together by McAfee and Intel researchers are expected to significantly strengthen the security of not only general computers, but also the cloud networks powering most of the services people use on a daily basis.

"The cyber threat landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years, with millions of new threats appearing every month. We believe this acquisition will result in our ability to deliver a safer, more secure and trusted Internet-enabled device experience," said Dave DeWalt, president and CEO of McAfee.