NVIDIA this morning announced its acquisition of Icera, which provides baseband processors for 3G and 4G cellular phones and tablets.
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.
Icera holds more than 550 patents, and its high speed wireless-modem products have been approved by more than 50 carriers across the globe. 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 United States.
By combining the companies’ products and technologies, including its Tegra processor, NVIDIA aims to solidify its position in the growing mobile market:
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.
Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA, says the company intends to continue to collaborate with its existing baseband partners and “respect its customers’ preferences” in combining application and baseband processors.
