Apple says no current plans on buying Imagination Technologies
23 Mar 2016
Apple yesterday said that it had held discussion on acquiring British graphics chip designer Imagination Technologies (IMG) but has no plans to table an offer at the moment.
Shares of IMG yesterday rose almost 20 per cent in early morning trading after local technology news and information website Ars Technica reported that Apple was in advance talks to buy the Hertfordshire-based company. (See: Apple in advanced talks to buy British graphics chipmaker Imagination Technologies)
"From time to time, Apple talks with companies about potential acquisitions," Apple said in a statement.
"We had some discussions with Imagination, but we do not plan to make an offer for the company at this time."
IMG, in which Apple already holds 8.38 per cent stake, currently has a market value of £530 million ($761 million).
IMG is known for its PowerVR line of GPUs, which Apple has used in its mobile A-series SoCs (Systems on Chips) since the A4, which powered the iPhone 4 and 4th-generation iPod Touch.
Besides Apple, its other major client is South Korean smartphone giant Samsung.
In 2008 Apple had acquired PA Semi, a fabless chip design company, in order to design its own processor.
That acquisition eventually led to Apple designing its own CPU cores for its A-series SoCs, starting with the Swift CPU core used by the A6 SoC in the iPhone 5.
IMG was founded in 1985 as VideoLogic and originally focused on graphics, sound acceleration, home audio systems, video-capture and video-conferencing systems.
The the London Stock Exchange-listed company has a broad range of silicon IP (intellectual property) including the key processing blocks needed to create the SoCs that power all mobile, consumer and embedded electronics.
Its software IP, infrastructure technologies and system solutions enable its customers to get to market quickly with complete and highly differentiated SoC platforms.
IMG's licencees include many of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers, network operators and OEMs/ODMs who make some of the world's most iconic products.
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