SANTA CLARA, Calif.—May 9, 2011— NVIDIA announced today that it has agreed to acquire Icera, a leading innovator of top-performing baseband processors for 3G and 4G cellular phones and tablets.
Icera has more than 550 patents granted or pending worldwide, and its high speed wireless-modem products have been approved by more than 50 carriers across the globe. By combining the companies’ products and technologies, including NVIDIA’s Tegra processor, NVIDIA will enhance its position as a leading player in the growing mobile market.
The acquisition, for $367 million in cash, has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors and is expected to be completed, subject to customary closing conditions, in approximately 30 days. The transaction is expected to be slightly dilutive on an operating basis through the first half of calendar 2012, and accretive on an operating basis in the second half of calendar 2012. This expectation does not take into account significant revenue synergies that the companies anticipate.
By offering the two main processors used in smartphones (the application processor and baseband processor), the combined company will help OEM customers both improve their time to market and deliver the requirements of next-generation mobile computing. NVIDIA will also have approximately doubled its revenue opportunity within each device.
The market for baseband processors is one of the fastest growing segments of the technology industry, worth an estimated $15 billion a year. Icera will be able to leverage NVIDIA’s momentum in the smartphone and tablet markets to capitalize on this growth.
Background on Icera
Icera is a pioneer in next-generation, multi-protocol wireless baseband processors with RF components. Its technology scales from 2G to 4G networks, using a custom-built, ultra-low-power processor. Because the baseband is software-based, manufacturers can develop multiple products from a common platform, reduce development costs, accelerate time to market and secure a route to support future baseband standards.
Icera’s third-generation Livanto line of chipsets delivers the industry’s fastest data rates, cuts user wait times, reduces battery drain and supports multiple standards on the same hardware. And its forthcoming Espresso®450 and Espresso®500 line of platforms provides industry-leading performance for 2G, 3G and 4G networks, low-power optimization for voice and high-speed data, and the industry’s smallest form factor. Its portfolio of products will expand significantly in the near future.
Founded in 2002 and based in Bristol, England, the company has approximately 300 employees in seven countries in Europe and Asia, as well as the U.S. It was established by a group of senior executives with strong, shared backgrounds in microprocessor design and cellular communications.
Showing posts with label NVIDIA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NVIDIA. Show all posts
Monday, May 9, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Intel and NVIDIA sign Patent Cross License Agreement with $1.5B payments to NVIDIA
From today's SEC 8K filing: Under the patent cross license agreement, Intel has granted to NVIDIA and its qualified subsidiaries, and NVIDIA has granted to Intel and Intel’s qualified subsidiaries, a non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide license, without the right to sublicense to all patents that are either owned or controlled by the parties at any time that have a first filing date on or before March 31, 2017, to make, have made (subject to certain limitations), use, sell, offer to sell, import and otherwise dispose of certain semiconductor- and electronic-related products anywhere in the world. NVIDIA’s rights to Intel’s patents have certain specified limitations, including but not limited to, NVIDIA is not licensed to: (1) certain microprocessors, defined in the agreement as “Intel Processors” or “Intel Compatible Processors;” (2) certain chipsets that connect to Intel Processors; and (3) certain flash memory products. Subject to the terms and conditions of the patent cross license agreement, Intel will pay NVIDIA licensing fees which in the aggregate will amount to $1.5 billion, payable in annual installments, as follows: a $300 million payment on each of January 18, 2011, January 13, 2012 and January 15, 2013 and a $200 million payment on each of January 15, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
The term of the patent cross license agreement continues until the expiration of the last to expire of the licensed patents, unless earlier terminated. NVIDIA may terminate the patent cross license agreement if Intel fails to make the required payments under the patent cross license agreement and fails to cure such non-payment within 60 days. In addition, the patent cross license agreement may be terminated in whole or in part under certain circumstances with respect to a party, if such party declares bankruptcy or undergoes a change of control.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Xpoint Technologies, Inc. files suit against a mutitude of companies for infringement of data transfer patent
Claiming infringement their US Patent No. 5,913,028, entitled “Client/Server Data Traffic Delivery System and Method, Xpoint Technologies, Inc. has filed suit against Microsoft Corporation, Intel Corporation, Marvell Technology Group, Ltd., Marvell Semiconductor, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Cypress Semiconductor Corp., QuickLogic Corporation, Qualcomm, Inc., Freescale Semiconductor Holdings I, Ltd., Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. (“Freescale Semiconductor”), Texas Instruments, Inc., Google Inc., T-Mobile USA, Inc., HTC Corporation, HTC America, Inc., Apple Inc., Sony Corporation, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (USA), Inc., Philips Electronics, N.V., Philips Electronics North America Corporation, LG Electronics, Inc., LG Electronics USA, Inc., Research in Motion, Ltd., Research in Motion Corporation, Motorola, Inc., Nokia Corporation, Nokia Inc., Palm, Inc., Nvidia Corporation , Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Dell Corporation, AT&T Inc., AT&T Mobility LLC, Verizon Communications, Inc., Cellco Partnership (“Cellco”), and Sprint Nextel Corporation.
Xpoint claims, "the ‘028 Patent invention provides significantly enhanced functionality for a variety of types of electronic devices, including without limitation cell phones, personal media players, personal computers, global positioning system (“GPS”) devices, and the like (generically, “data-processing devices”). One example of such enhanced functionality is “sideloading.” Certain cell-phone and personal media players manufactured and sold by certain Defendants use the ‘028 Patent technology to facilitate sideloading, which permits the transfer of information directly from one local device, typically a universal serial bus (“USB”) network I/O device connected to a personal computer, across a bus to the I/O of another local device such as a storage I/O device of a cell phone or personal media player, bypassing the CPU and central memory. In another example of increased functionality, the ‘028 Patent technology is infringed by processors and chipsets for computers, cell phones, and smart phones manufactured and sold by certain Defendants that use “northbridge-southbridge” architecture to transfer data directly between I/O devices across a bus that bypasses the CPU and central memory. The ‘028 Patent technology is also infringed by cell phones sold by certain Defendants that contain digital cameras and use the ‘028 Patent technology to transfer data directly from the camera sensor (input I/O) to the LCD screen (output I/O), bypassing the device’s CPU and central memory and permitting these cell phone digital cameras to function in viewfinder mode and to display images instantaneously and continuously on the screen. Yet another example of enhanced functionality made possible by the technology protected in the '028 Patent is cellular video sharing. In cellular video sharing, the output of the camera sensor of a data processing device is transferred directly to a network I/O unit of the device, bypassing the CPU and central memory of the device. Certain devices manufactured and sold by certain Defendants are capable of cellular video sharing and infringe the '028 Patent.
Xpoint claims, "the ‘028 Patent invention provides significantly enhanced functionality for a variety of types of electronic devices, including without limitation cell phones, personal media players, personal computers, global positioning system (“GPS”) devices, and the like (generically, “data-processing devices”). One example of such enhanced functionality is “sideloading.” Certain cell-phone and personal media players manufactured and sold by certain Defendants use the ‘028 Patent technology to facilitate sideloading, which permits the transfer of information directly from one local device, typically a universal serial bus (“USB”) network I/O device connected to a personal computer, across a bus to the I/O of another local device such as a storage I/O device of a cell phone or personal media player, bypassing the CPU and central memory. In another example of increased functionality, the ‘028 Patent technology is infringed by processors and chipsets for computers, cell phones, and smart phones manufactured and sold by certain Defendants that use “northbridge-southbridge” architecture to transfer data directly between I/O devices across a bus that bypasses the CPU and central memory. The ‘028 Patent technology is also infringed by cell phones sold by certain Defendants that contain digital cameras and use the ‘028 Patent technology to transfer data directly from the camera sensor (input I/O) to the LCD screen (output I/O), bypassing the device’s CPU and central memory and permitting these cell phone digital cameras to function in viewfinder mode and to display images instantaneously and continuously on the screen. Yet another example of enhanced functionality made possible by the technology protected in the '028 Patent is cellular video sharing. In cellular video sharing, the output of the camera sensor of a data processing device is transferred directly to a network I/O unit of the device, bypassing the CPU and central memory of the device. Certain devices manufactured and sold by certain Defendants are capable of cellular video sharing and infringe the '028 Patent.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Nvidia 10K
Graphics processor market share: "Our share of the standalone desktop GPU category decreased from 64% to 63% in fiscal year 2009, according to the December 2007 and December 2008 PC Graphics Report from Mercury Research, respectively. Our share of the standalone notebook category decreased from 75% to 63%, according to the December 2007 and December 2008 PC Graphics Report from Mercury Research, respectively."
Gross margin collapse: "During the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2009, our gross margin declined to 29.4% as compared to 45.7% during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008 and decreased from 41.0% from the third quarter of fiscal year 2009."
Microsoft stock rights: "On March 5, 2000, we entered into an agreement with Microsoft in which we agreed to develop and sell graphics chips and to license certain technology to Microsoft and its licensees for use in the Xbox. Under the agreement, if an individual or corporation makes an offer to purchase shares equal to or greater than 30% of the outstanding shares of our common stock, Microsoft may have first and last rights of refusal to purchase the stock. The Microsoft provision and the other factors listed above could also delay or prevent a change in control of NVIDIA."
Recent legal activity: "On February 17, 2009, Intel Corporation filed suit against NVIDIA Corporation, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief relating to a licensing agreement that the parties signed in 2004. The lawsuit was filed in Delaware Chancery Court. Intel seeks an order from the Court declaring that the license does not extend to certain future NVIDIA chipset products, and enjoining NVIDIA from stating that it has licensing rights for these products. The lawsuit seeks no damages from NVIDIA. If Intel successfully obtains such a court order, we could be unable to sell our MCP products for use with Intel processors and our competitive position would be harmed. NVIDIA’s response to the Intel complaint is currently due on March 23, 2009." (Nvidia's cases are far too numerous to detail here, but include landlord and trustee actions relating to 3dfx's bankruptcy, SEC cases, DOJ anti-trust cases, Rambus patent infringement claims and product liability claims resulting from product reliability issues.)
Customer concentration: "Sales to our largest customer, Hewlett-Packard Company, accounted for 11% of our total revenue for fiscal year 2009."
Foundry, assembly and test: "We utilize industry-leading suppliers, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, or TSMC, United Microelectronics Corporation, or UMC, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, or Chartered, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, or SMIC, and Austria Micro Systems, or AMS to produce our semiconductor wafers. We then utilize independent subcontractors, such as Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, or ASE, Amkor Technology, or Amkor, JSI Logistics Ltd., or JSI, King Yuan Electronics Co., Ltd, or KYEC, Siliconware Precision Industries Company Ltd., or SPIL, and STATS ChipPAC Incorporated, or ChipPAC, to perform assembly, testing and packaging of most of our products.......Our current product families are manufactured using 0.15 micron, 0.14 micron, 0.13 micron, 0.11 micron, 90 nanometer, 65 nanometer and 55 nanometer process technologies."
Packaging reliability problem: ".....For example, in July 2008, we recorded a $196.0 million charge against cost of revenue to cover anticipated customer warranty, repair, return, replacement and other associated costs arising from a weak die/packaging material set in certain versions of our previous generation MCP and GPU products used in notebook systems."
Employees: "As of January 25, 2009 we had 5,420 employees, 3,772 of whom were engaged in research and development and 1,648 of whom were engaged in sales, marketing, operations and administrative positions."
Gross margin collapse: "During the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2009, our gross margin declined to 29.4% as compared to 45.7% during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008 and decreased from 41.0% from the third quarter of fiscal year 2009."
Microsoft stock rights: "On March 5, 2000, we entered into an agreement with Microsoft in which we agreed to develop and sell graphics chips and to license certain technology to Microsoft and its licensees for use in the Xbox. Under the agreement, if an individual or corporation makes an offer to purchase shares equal to or greater than 30% of the outstanding shares of our common stock, Microsoft may have first and last rights of refusal to purchase the stock. The Microsoft provision and the other factors listed above could also delay or prevent a change in control of NVIDIA."
Recent legal activity: "On February 17, 2009, Intel Corporation filed suit against NVIDIA Corporation, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief relating to a licensing agreement that the parties signed in 2004. The lawsuit was filed in Delaware Chancery Court. Intel seeks an order from the Court declaring that the license does not extend to certain future NVIDIA chipset products, and enjoining NVIDIA from stating that it has licensing rights for these products. The lawsuit seeks no damages from NVIDIA. If Intel successfully obtains such a court order, we could be unable to sell our MCP products for use with Intel processors and our competitive position would be harmed. NVIDIA’s response to the Intel complaint is currently due on March 23, 2009." (Nvidia's cases are far too numerous to detail here, but include landlord and trustee actions relating to 3dfx's bankruptcy, SEC cases, DOJ anti-trust cases, Rambus patent infringement claims and product liability claims resulting from product reliability issues.)
Customer concentration: "Sales to our largest customer, Hewlett-Packard Company, accounted for 11% of our total revenue for fiscal year 2009."
Foundry, assembly and test: "We utilize industry-leading suppliers, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, or TSMC, United Microelectronics Corporation, or UMC, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, or Chartered, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, or SMIC, and Austria Micro Systems, or AMS to produce our semiconductor wafers. We then utilize independent subcontractors, such as Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, or ASE, Amkor Technology, or Amkor, JSI Logistics Ltd., or JSI, King Yuan Electronics Co., Ltd, or KYEC, Siliconware Precision Industries Company Ltd., or SPIL, and STATS ChipPAC Incorporated, or ChipPAC, to perform assembly, testing and packaging of most of our products.......Our current product families are manufactured using 0.15 micron, 0.14 micron, 0.13 micron, 0.11 micron, 90 nanometer, 65 nanometer and 55 nanometer process technologies."
Packaging reliability problem: ".....For example, in July 2008, we recorded a $196.0 million charge against cost of revenue to cover anticipated customer warranty, repair, return, replacement and other associated costs arising from a weak die/packaging material set in certain versions of our previous generation MCP and GPU products used in notebook systems."
Employees: "As of January 25, 2009 we had 5,420 employees, 3,772 of whom were engaged in research and development and 1,648 of whom were engaged in sales, marketing, operations and administrative positions."
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
NVIDIA Responds To INTEL Court Filing
SANTA CLARA, CA. – FEBRUARY 18, 2009 – NVIDIA Corporation today responded to a Monday court filing (Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware) in which Intel alleged that the four-year-old chipset license agreement the companies signed does not extend to Intel’s future generation CPUs with “integrated” memory controllers, such as Nehalem. The filing does not impact NVIDIA chipsets that are currently being shipped.
“We are confident that our license, as negotiated, applies,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. “At the heart of this issue is that the CPU has run its course and the soul of the PC is shifting quickly to the GPU. This is clearly an attempt to stifle innovation to protect a decaying CPU business.”
NVIDIA entered into the agreement in 2004 in order to bring platform innovations to Intel CPU based systems. In return, Intel took a license to NVIDIA’s rich portfolio of 3D, GPU, and other computing patents.
Since signing the agreement, NVIDIA has offered innovations such as SLI®, Hybrid power, and CUDA™ parallel processing. ION™, the most recent innovation, integrates a powerful NVIDIA GPU, north bridge and south bridge into one compact die. When combined with a CPU, ION enables a two-chip PC architecture for Intel processors two years ahead of Intel’s own solution. In addition, the ION platform offers 10x the performance of Intel’s current three chip design.1
The industry and consumers now count on innovations from NVIDIA. Microsoft recently endorsed ION because it offers consumers the first truly affordable premium Windows experience. Late last year Apple selected NVIDIA’s chipset for its entire new line of notebooks including the MacBook Classic, MacBook Air, MacBook and MacBook Pro. Today, companies like Acer, Alienware, Asus, Dell, Falcon Northwest, Fujitsu, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, MSI, NEC, and Toshiba all ship exciting innovations created by NVIDIA as a result of its agreement with Intel.
Huang said that, given the broad and growing adoption of NVIDIA’s platform innovations, it is not surprising that Intel is now initiating a dispute over a contract signed four years ago. Innovations like ION, SLI, Hybrid power, and CUDA threaten Intel’s ability to control the PC platform.
NVIDIA has been attempting to resolve the disagreement with Intel in a fair and reasonable manner for over a year. NVIDIA’s chipsets for Intel’s current CPU bus interface are not affected by the dispute.
“We are confident that our license, as negotiated, applies,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. “At the heart of this issue is that the CPU has run its course and the soul of the PC is shifting quickly to the GPU. This is clearly an attempt to stifle innovation to protect a decaying CPU business.”
NVIDIA entered into the agreement in 2004 in order to bring platform innovations to Intel CPU based systems. In return, Intel took a license to NVIDIA’s rich portfolio of 3D, GPU, and other computing patents.
Since signing the agreement, NVIDIA has offered innovations such as SLI®, Hybrid power, and CUDA™ parallel processing. ION™, the most recent innovation, integrates a powerful NVIDIA GPU, north bridge and south bridge into one compact die. When combined with a CPU, ION enables a two-chip PC architecture for Intel processors two years ahead of Intel’s own solution. In addition, the ION platform offers 10x the performance of Intel’s current three chip design.1
The industry and consumers now count on innovations from NVIDIA. Microsoft recently endorsed ION because it offers consumers the first truly affordable premium Windows experience. Late last year Apple selected NVIDIA’s chipset for its entire new line of notebooks including the MacBook Classic, MacBook Air, MacBook and MacBook Pro. Today, companies like Acer, Alienware, Asus, Dell, Falcon Northwest, Fujitsu, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, MSI, NEC, and Toshiba all ship exciting innovations created by NVIDIA as a result of its agreement with Intel.
Huang said that, given the broad and growing adoption of NVIDIA’s platform innovations, it is not surprising that Intel is now initiating a dispute over a contract signed four years ago. Innovations like ION, SLI, Hybrid power, and CUDA threaten Intel’s ability to control the PC platform.
NVIDIA has been attempting to resolve the disagreement with Intel in a fair and reasonable manner for over a year. NVIDIA’s chipsets for Intel’s current CPU bus interface are not affected by the dispute.
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