14 DAY TRIAL // Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC Corporation is set to purchase the S3 Graphics subsidiary of VIA, some of the latest reports on the matter suggest.
The leading handset vendor will acquire all of the shares that VIA currently has in the GPU maker, as well as the shares that WTI, which invested in S3 back in 2005, holds.
The deal is said to be worth a total of $300 million, with VIA expected to get $147 million of the total price.
As soon as the deal was closed, HTC will gain access to $147 the company’s low-power, HD-capable graphics expertise, and is also expected to get the patent portfolio the graphics company holds at the moment.
“The transaction would allow VIA to monetize a portion of its rich IP portfolio, yet retain its graphics capabilities to support the development and sale of its processors and chipsets,” Tzu-mu Lin, senior vice president and board director of VIA, reportedly said.
At the moment, S3 Graphics produces its own series of desktop video cards, but also has its chipsets included in VIA’s range of compact mainboards.
The boards are targeted mainly at small-form-factor desktops, embedded systems, and the like. Moreover, S3 chipsets also found their way inside game consoles and smartphones only recently.
For the time being, there are no details available in regard to HTC's plans for the company, though it is obvious that it would aim at including the chips inside some of its future smartphones and other mobile devices.
Moreover, some of the previous rumors on the matter suggested that HTC might be considering coming up with a home electronics branch as well, though nothing is confirmed on this for the time being.
HTC has seen impressive growth lately, greatly helped by its wide range of devices running under Android, and is expected to continue register growth in the future as well, although it faces increasingly tight competition even in the Android segment.