The Wall Street Journal said that Intel has joined the list of “technology giants” set to bid for the patent portfolio of failed telecoms equipment manufacturer Nortel Networks, which is due to be auctioned next week. The company will join Apple, Ericsson and Google, and RPX, which buys up patents on behalf of other parties to stop them being used against them. RPX has previously been linked with partners including Sony, Cisco, Nokia and Samsung.

Last week, Nortel announced that it has postponed the start of the auction, due to “reasons relating to the significant level of interest in its approximately 6,000 patents and patent applications.” Google was previously named as “stalking horse” in the process, having pledged to pay US$900 million. The Nortel patent portfolio covers a range of technologies, “spanning wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, semiconductors and other patent portfolios.”