Chipping away
Graphics company NVIDIA has agreed to acquire Bristol-based Icera for $367 million. A major focus for Icera is baseband processors, which receive raw mobile data from the modem and process it for use by the application processor.
While application processors, such as NVIDIA's Tegra 2, get most of the headlines, the baseband processor can have just as profound an effect on the performance of a mobile device - especially when streaming data.
NVIDIA clearly wants to be able to offer a more complete mobile chip solution and will now be able to deliver the application and baseband processors on one piece of silicon. Not only will this solve one more problem for its customers, it should also result in reductions in price, power and silicon.
"This is a key step in NVIDIA's plans to be a major player in the mobile computing revolution," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. "Adding Icera's technology to Tegra gives us an outstanding platform to support the industry's best phones and tablets."
Icera was founded in 2002, but the first Icera-powered products didn't arrive until 2007. Icera sells software-based baseband technology, which runs on its own DXP processor. It sells these chips to many of the leading handset-makers. NVIDIA was quick to stress that it will continue to collaborate with its existing baseband partners and respect its customers' baseband chip choices.
NVIDIA announced it was supporting Icera chips with Tegra back in the middle of 2009, so the two companies clearly have an established working relationship. "NVIDIA's Tegra processor has the most impressive roadmap in the industry, and it is an ideal match for Icera," said Icera boss Stan Boland. "As part of NVIDIA, we will be able to reach a broader market. Our team has collaborated closely with NVIDIA for several years on a range of projects, and we're delighted to be joining forces."
