Nvidia Buys Baseband, RF Tech Leader Icera
Nvidia's purchase of Icera means the Tegra platform will see the addition of a baseband processor with RF components.
Is Nvidia gearing up to take on Qualcomm in the mobile application processor market? That may be a possible scenario thanks to its agreement to purchase baseband and RF technology company Icera. Nvidia announced on Monday that it shelled out a hefty $367 million in cash, and expects to complete the acquisition in approximately thirty days.
Founded in 2002 and based in Bristol, England, Icera produces multi-protocol, ultra-low power wireless baseband processors with RF components, capable of working on 2G, 3G and 4G networks that use different protocols, such as HSPA, HSPA+ and LTE. "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," Nvidia said.
The company's third-generation Livanto is currently on the market while the fourth-generation Espresso 450 and 500 lines are scheduled to arrive in the near future. These will offer "industry-leading performance for 2G, 3G and 4G networks, low-power optimization for voice and high-speed data" in the industry's smallest form factor.
Once the acquisition is finalized, Nvidia plans to integrate Icera's technology into the Tegra platform, combining both the application processor and baseband processor. This should help OEM customers both improve their time to market and deliver the requirements of next-generation mobile computing. This will also put Nvidia in a better position to compete with Apple on hardware refresh level while possibly doubling its revenue with each device. It's a win for everybody (unless you're a competitor).
"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 is a perfect fit for Nvidia. Our businesses are complementary. Icera has the right team, with a strong, proven track record. And their nimble, entrepreneurial, engineering-focused culture mirrors our own."
Monday Nvidia's CEO stated that the company isn't giving up on its existing baseband customers, and will respect Icera's customers' preferences in combining baseband processors with the application processor of their choice. Even if customers don't choose a Nvidia-based processor, the acquisition makes Nvidia a baseband chip supplier at the least.
More details will be provided during Nvidia's quarterly conference call to be held on Thursday, May 12, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. PT, the company said.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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TeraMedia Anyone know who competes with Icera? If there isn't strong competition, this might be a way for NV to strong-arm their CPUs into the mobile space. That would be bad for competing mobile CPU vendors.Reply -
bison88 Nvidia has to do something besides just throwing the handful of billions they once luxuriously had (like Google does now) into something else other than R&D. The future is the merging of CPU and GPU on the same silicon, although discrete cards won't be going away any time this decade, as technology snowballs the market is sure to shrink and become minimal in the future. Would absolutely LOVE to see a third competitor in there with Intel and AMD. I don't think Nvidia can pull it off on its own, but maybe if they merged with ARM they could take the CPU market by storm in a few years time. However, word is AMD is closer to ARM than Nvidia is.Reply