Qualcomm Near Deal For Atheros (QCOM, ATHR)

The New York Times

is reporting that Qualcomm

is near a deal to by Atheros Communications, Inc.

. Qualcomm would pay about $45 per share for the company, or $3.5 billion in cash. A deal could be announced as soon as tomorrow. Qualcomm has been looking to get into the tablet and small notebook computer market, and buying Atheros would allow Qualcomm to do this. Atheros is based in Santa Clara, Calif. Shares were halted because of the sharp increase in the share price, but now the shares are trading again.