[citation][nom]ddpruitt[/nom]What does Intel want with a 3rd rate chip maker? Last I heard this company hadn't company with anything interesting in a decade or so. Most of there GPU's are used for proprietary SOC systems that haven't made a significant impact. This really isn't Intel's usual cup of tea.[/citation]
Creative, for all their flaws, has always been a R&D powerhouse, and leasing patents is pretty much the only thing they do now. It is more likely that Intel developed something, applied for a patent, and then found out that Creative already owns said patent, so Intel is buying up the rights to do what they were planning to do in the first place.
Intel knows what they are doing with graphics. The only reasons we have not seen bigger Intel GPUs is because of cost and wattage. Cost because they are trying to keep AMD down in the dirt, and because they are beginning to feel pressure from the ARM camp of CPUs. Wattage because of their push for ultrabook design and increasing sales in embedded systems (perhaps their only real growth segment right now as desktop and laptop sales are slowing down), and again beginning for feel pressure from ARM.
And this is exactly Intel's cup of tea. Intel (and all major tech companies) are always purchasing patent rights. Most of them will never be used, but patents are relatively cheap, and it keeps doors open for possible future products.