Tuesday, January 20th 2009

Qualcomm Acquires Handheld Graphics and Multimedia Assets from AMD

Qualcomm Incorporated and AMD today announced that Qualcomm has acquired certain graphics and multimedia technology assets, intellectual property and resources that were formerly the basis of AMD's handheld business. The acquisition enhances Qualcomm's multimedia capabilities, allowing Qualcomm to strengthen its leadership position in delivering more advanced products that redefine next-generation mobile user experiences.
"This acquisition of assets from AMD's handheld business brings us strong multimedia technologies, including graphics cores that we have been licensing for several years," said Steve Mollenkopf, executive vice president of Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. "Bringing this technology in-house creates even greater synergy as we seamlessly integrate the best-in-class multimedia performance AMD offers into our system-on-chip (SoC) products."

"With the sale of these handheld technology assets and resources to Qualcomm, we are better able to focus on our core business and leverage our unique position as a leader in both x86 computing and high-end graphics," said Robert J. Rivet, chief operations and administrative officer, chief financial officer of AMD. "We believe the talented AMD Handheld employees will be a great asset to Qualcomm."

Under the terms of the agreement, Qualcomm has extended offers of employment to various design and development teams from AMD's handheld business. The teams are developing technologies to enhance mobile devices in areas including 2D and 3D graphics, audio/video, display, and architecture.

The two companies signed and closed a binding agreement on January 19, 2009, having already received required regulatory approvals. Cash consideration from Qualcomm to AMD, as part of the transaction, is $65 million, subject to adjustments for employee-related expenses and a holdback for certain customary indemnification obligations. Both AMD and Qualcomm are committed to a seamless transfer of business assets, as well as a smooth transition for employees.

Qualcomm expects the acquisition to be approximately $0.02 dilutive to pro forma earnings per share in fiscal 2009 and accretive to earnings by the second half of calendar year 2010.
Source: Qualcomm
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15 Comments on Qualcomm Acquires Handheld Graphics and Multimedia Assets from AMD

#1
suraswami
hmm don't know if this is good or bad for AMD, but they will have bit more cash to survive longer.
Posted on Reply
#2
PCpraiser100
suraswamihmm don't know if this is good or bad for AMD, but they will have bit more cash to survive longer.
There's good news and bad news:

Good: AMD gets money out of it. Linked to the Fusion Innovation plan.

Bad: The other company may take advantage of this offer by outperforming AMD in some manner.
Posted on Reply
#3
crazy pyro
If AMD's having to sell off divisions that's not good, god help the tech world if intel loses all of its competition, I'm never going to be buying another processor again if Intel loses the competition AMD provides mainly because I wouldn't be able to afford it.
Posted on Reply
#4
PCpraiser100
crazy pyroIf AMD's having to sell off divisions that's not good, god help the tech world if intel loses all of its competition, I'm never going to be buying another processor again if Intel loses the competition AMD provides mainly because I wouldn't be able to afford it.
Whoah, hang on there. Divisions? They are just trading in technologies with money, AMD will still be a competitor for being a third party distributor for hand held devices, its just that Qualcomm will have some additional technologies to play with. The difference between AMD and Qualcomm is big. Qualcomm is just a telecommunications research company, they develop technologies. AMD just manufactures them. Well...mostly.

Besides, Qualcomm is now offering employment deals, best part for the hand held and multimedia platforms of the company. This could also be part of Fusion, as there could be a partnership deal in the future.
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#6
iStink
I hate Qualcomm. They need to provide graphics drivers to HTC.
Posted on Reply
#7
pentastar111
PCpraiser100Whoah, hang on there. Divisions? They are just trading in technologies with money, AMD will still be a competitor for being a third party distributor for hand held devices, its just that Qualcomm will have some additional technologies to play with. The difference between AMD and Qualcomm is big. Qualcomm is just a telecommunications research company, they develop technologies. AMD just manufactures them. Well...mostly.

Besides, Qualcomm is now offering employment deals, best part for the hand held and multimedia platforms of the company. This could also be part of Fusion, as there could be a partnership deal in the future.
While that is true, it is still not a good sign...In today's harsh, cold financial enviroment only the "exteremely" wealthy will survive..:shadedshu.. AMD keeps selling off things just to stay alfloat. I'm probably talking out my league here, but I give 'em about 2 more years and their CPU division will cease to exist, (unless they pull that rabbit out of the hat)leaving only the graphics cards as any type of competing business..And when that happens I will quit building PC's... Sad days ahead, enjoy the compitition while you can fella's..:(
Posted on Reply
#8
PCpraiser100
pentastar111While that is true, it is still not a good sign...In today's harsh, cold financial enviroment only the "exteremely" wealthy will survive..:shadedshu.. AMD keeps selling off things just to stay alfloat. I'm probably talking out my league here, but I give 'em about 2 more years and their CPU division will cease to exist, (unless they pull that rabbit out of the hat)leaving only the graphics cards as any type of competing business..And when that happens I will quit building PC's... Sad days ahead, enjoy the compitition while you can fella's..:(
That is correct, pentastar111, it is bad in a somewhat harsh environment that today's companies are in as we speak, but companies like AMD has managed to move on. I asked to check the stock decrease from AMD and it has managed to stop from the recession drastically, may be from it's recent job lay-offs. On the other hand, industry giants like Qualcomm have enough additional profit to restore itself back into its financially-stable state, so there is no meaning of such worry in the recession. This also gives us a sign, saying that despite the size of giant companies like Qualcomm, they really take responsibility to keep employment positions making other companies look bad by taking the additional profit all to themselves. AMD isn't that large anymore as there are only 16000 employees, but companies like Intel, Sony, or Samsung should be blamed.
Posted on Reply
#9
WarEagleAU
Bird of Prey
I wouldnt worry too quickly. Im just glad to see them getting Cash for all that they own, license, manufacture, produce, etc. 65 Million is alot of cash and I say they take that and put it back into R&D and get some Archi changes going.
Posted on Reply
#10
PCpraiser100
WarEagleAUI wouldnt worry too quickly. Im just glad to see them getting Cash for all that they own, license, manufacture, produce, etc. 65 Million is alot of cash and I say they take that and put it back into R&D and get some Archi changes going.
Great way to explain that, which gives AMD some financial firepower to prepare for a 1-2-punch from Intel.
Posted on Reply
#11
mtosev
Amd is slowly going bye bye.
Posted on Reply
#12
PCpraiser100
mtosevAmd is slowly going bye bye.
Not really, they are really getting noticed. Not by us enthusiasts, but for the consumer. AMD is no longer focused on all-out performance, thats what Intel expects cause since they are now a lot smaller than Intel AMD will bleed stocks if they try, so they stick with the mainstream. My cousin bought a PC with a 920 and he seems satisfied, as all the wanted from it was gaming.
Posted on Reply
#13
suraswami
PCpraiser100Not really, they are really getting noticed. Not by us enthusiasts, but for the consumer. AMD is no longer focused on all-out performance, thats what Intel expects cause since they are now a lot smaller than Intel AMD will bleed stocks if they try, so they stick with the mainstream. My cousin bought a PC with a 920 and he seems satisfied, as all the wanted from it was gaming.
may be he was one of the ignorant ones, I am not trying to pull you or something. But that is what I am seeing at stores, people blindly buy something without understanding what they want and how it works.
Posted on Reply
#15
crazy pyro
@Suraswami there's nothing wrong with a phenom II 920, if it can compete on par with an intel quad like mine or better then it should be good to go for a few years yet in terms of gaming.
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