Imagination Technologies Group plc is a technology company based in the UK, focusing on semiconductors and related intellectual property licenses. It markets PowerVR mobile graphics processors, embedded MIPS microprocessors, and for Pure consumer electronics division. It also supplies radio baseband processing, networking, digital signal processors, video and audio hardware, voice over IP software, cloud computing and silicon design services and systems. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Video Imagination Technologies
Histori
The company was founded in 1985 by Tony Maclaren, and later led by him as Group Chief Executive, as VideoLogic and initially focused on graphics, voice acceleration, home audio systems, video-capture and video-conferencing systems. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in July 1994. The following year he signed a license agreement on PowerVR technology with NEC (now Renesas) which took 2.29% of the Company's shares of Ã, Â £ 1.6 million and acquired the right to produce and sell chips. On December 2, 1997, NEC subscribed 2.3 million (1.5%) new shares at 56.5p, taking the total stake to 3.5%. In 1999, the Company refocused on intellectual property licenses in general and changed its name to Imagination Technologies .
Since the 1990s VideoLogic has provided chips for digital television set-top boxes, and is a member of the Digital TV Group. During the late 1990s to the 2000s, Sega used the VideoLogic chip for Dreamcast home video games and several Sega arcade systems. Namco also used the PowerVR chip for the Namco System 23 arcade board system in the late 1990s.
On March 23, 2000, Imagination Technologies acquired Ensigma, a private company specializing in Digital Signal Processing, for a maximum consideration of Ã, Â £ 5 million. On September 26, 2001, Imagination Technologies acquired Cross Products Limited, a company that designs and manufactures development tools for IP META DSP cores and SuperH Renesas architectural processors under the CodeScape brand, for Ã, £ 4.2 million.
In October 2006, Intel Corporation acquired 2.9% stake in Imagination Technologies for Ã, £ 5.28 million. On November 24, 2008, Imagination Technologies announced a licensed agreement signed with a new partner, then withheld, for the high-performance version of its PowerVR SGX graphics processor chip: it was later revealed to be Apple Inc. In December 2008, Apple Inc. bought a 3.6% stake in the company for £ 3.2 million.
In June 2009, it was announced that Intel's shares had risen to 14% after it acquired 25 million shares. One week later, Intel acquired 5 million other shares of Saad Group (based in Saudi Arabia), and its shareholding increased to 16.02%. A few days later, Apple Inc. announced that it had subscribed 2.2 million new shares at 142.75p each and made a market purchase of 11.52 million other shares, increasing its holdings to 9.5%; The Saad Group, which holds 44.6 million shares, 20.3% of the Company as of June 30, 2008, is considered a vendor of this stock, and has been reportedly forced to divest after its bank froze his account.
On November 17, 2010, Imagination Technologies announced its intention to acquire HelloSoft, one of the world's leading Video and Voice over Internet Protocol providers and wireless LAN technologies, with a maximum consideration of $ 47 million. On December 14, 2010, Imagination Technologies acquired Caustic Graphics, a developer of real-time ray-tracing graphics hardware/software technology founded by a group of former Apple engineers, for $ 27 million. On December 14, 2011, Imagination Technologies announced that it has entered into a license agreement with Qualcomm. The Company entered into an agreement to display IPs from its PowerVR portfolio.
On January 3, 2012, Imagination Technologies announced that it will invest  £ 5 million, in Toumaz Microsystems, a wireless intercom from Toumaz Ltd., and will have 25% of the business. In June 2012, Imagination Technologies acquired Nethra Imaging, a semiconductor company and a system focused on delivering video and image solutions. As of November 2012, more than 1 billion SOC units have been shipped with cores developed by Imagination Technologies. On December 17, 2012, Imagination Technologies beat Ceva Inc. in the race to buy its MIPS Technologies processor technology company with a KO bid of $ 100 million. On December 29, 2012, Chief Executive Officer, Hossein Yassaie, was awarded the knighthood at the New Year's Award 2013. The award is given in recognition of his services for technology and innovation.
On February 8, 2016, Imagination Technologies announced that Sir Hossein Yassaie had resigned from the company after 18 years as CEO. Imagination Technologies has seen more than 40 percent of the market value lost in recent months, and more than 85 percent since peaking in 2012, due to a reliance on Apple that has seen iPhone sales slowed. Andrew Heath, Imagination's board member and former director of Rolls-Royce, was appointed as temporary chief executive before taking a permanent role on May 26, 2016. In addition, Imagination announced a restructuring program to cut costs by £ 15m in the next financial year, and announced his intention to sell Pure Digital radio division.
In March 2016, Apple considered buying Imagination Technologies but ultimately never made an official offer. From 2015-17, while maintaining a license agreement, Apple designed the "brain drain" of key personnel of Imagination Technologies including engineers, most importantly in October 2016 when Apple hacked COO John Metcalf's Imagination Technology. Apple also set up a new office for chip development in St Albans, close to the headquarters of Imagination Technologies.
On April 3, 2017, Imagination Technologies shares fell 70% after reporting that Apple plans to stop using its intellectual property in the on-chip system within the next two years. Apple accounts for half of the company's revenue. The following month, Imagination Technologies announced that it would enter a dispute resolution process that called on Apple to license its intellectual property, arguing that Apple "provided no evidence to prove its claim that it no longer requires Imagination technology, without infringing the Imagination patent, intellectual property , and confidential information ". The company also announced it will sell its MIPS and Ensigma business.
On May 15, 2017, Sondrel announced it had signed an agreement to acquire the division of IMG Works.
On June 22, 2017, the board of Imagination Technologies announced to put the entire company for sale and, on September 25, 2017, the board announced that the company was being acquired by Canyon Bridge, a private equity fund tailored to China. In November 2017 sales to the Canyon Bridge were approved in a transaction that valued the business of Ã, Â £ 550 million (Ã, Â £ 1.82 per share).
Maps Imagination Technologies
Operations and products
The company has several activities:
Semiconductor intellectual property
- PowerVR - develop traditional and ray GPU tracing, video processing unit, and camera/core IP ISP technology ( also see PowerVR product list )
- MIPS architecture - Imagination Technologies develops MIPS architecture, licensed core MIPS processor (List of MIPS architectural processors), and Creator development board
- Ensigma - develops IP core for radio and TV demodulation and 802.11 Wi-Fi, 802.15.4 (Bluetooth, 6LoWPAN, etc.), LTE and other wireless technologies
Consumer electronics
- Pure (formerly VideoLogic) - DAB radio, wireless speaker system
System on Chip
- IMGWorks - SoC design and software integration services
Software services
- FlowTalk VoIP and VoLTE software development tools
See also
- ARM Holdings
- Tensilica
- ARC International
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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