英特尔5000万美元收购ZiiLabs专利及工程资产

日前创新科技(Creative Technology)与英特尔达成协议，后者将出资5000万美元购买前者手中的部分技术专利以及工程资产。 据称，这笔交易分为两部分，第一部分是2000万美元购买创新科技旗下子公司ZiiLabs（业界也称3DLabs）的高性能GPU技术专利，此举被分析师解读为英特尔在努力摆脱powerVR。第二部分则是3000万美元购买创新科技英国分公司ZiiLabs Limited的工程资产。 ZiiLabs虽然会卖掉部分专利技术，但原有业务以及公司本身仍然属于创新科技，旗下的ZMS系列芯片业务以及ZMS-20/40芯片的设计并不会因此而停止。 而ZiiLabs Limited则是创新的一个设计团队，主要负责提供芯片设计方案，例如创新的ZMS系列处理器芯片就是由ZiiLabs开发的。这次英特尔不仅是3000万美元购买其工程资产，同时也买下了这个设计团队，创新科技将逐步撤资，让ZiiLabs Limited并入英特尔当中。 创新科技首席执行官Sim Wong Hoo表示，“由于下一代高级媒体处理器的开发在进入28纳米及更先进的制程后会更加复杂和昂贵，我们必须寻求新的发展模式，与我们的合作伙伴及客户一起持续推进产品创新。” Sim Wong Hoo补充道：“通过与英特尔的交易，我们获得了更高的灵活性，具备了与多家半导体公司在先进设计和工艺技术方面协同发展的能力。这有利于我们在长期的产品规划和发展过程中降低风险。” 2012年2月，创新科技开始研发100核心的ZMS-40媒体处理器，旨在为Android平台提供高性能的图形和多媒体处理。 英特尔和创新科技曾在运动感应摄像头技术上进行合作，并就富媒体平板电脑产品进行过探讨。创新科技表示，希望交易在2012年年底前结束，之后他们将把业务重心放在核心的音频产品领域。 有趣的是，3DLabs曾在1999年，以约750万美元的价格授权其专利组合给英特尔。 编译：Luffy Liu 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 参考英文原文：Intel buys U.K. graphics chip team, by Peter Clarke

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{pagination} Intel buys U.K. graphics chip team Peter Clarke LONDON – Intel is paying $50 million to multimedia hardware company Creative Technology to license certain patents belonging to Creative subsidiary ZiiLabs Inc. Ltd. and to acquire its U.K. subsidiary ZiiLabs Ltd., formerly known as 3DLabs Ltd. The move by Intel Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.) is said to be part of efforts to de-emphasize the use of PowerVR graphics cores licensed from Imagination Technologies Group plc (Kings Langley, England) in future Atom processors. The deal includes $20 million to Creative Technology Ltd. (Singapore) for the licensing of technologies including ZiiLabs graphics processing unit (GPU) technology and $30 million for the acquisition of the U.K. based design team. This design team is engaged in, primarily on behalf of ZiiLabs Inc. Ltd., the development of ZMS chips for Creative. Creative acquired 3DLabs Inc. in 2002 for about $170 million, at the time the company was a Nasdaq-listed developer of graphics chips for workstations but with much of its engineering base still in the U.K.. In February 2012 Creative began sampling the 100-core ZMS-40 media processor aimed at Android platforms with high graphical and multimedia processing requirements (see ZiiLabs samples 100-core HEVC chip). "Moving forward, it will be more cost effective for Creative to outsource to third-party contract chip-layout houses on future advanced chips for its products, while at the same time allowing Creative to focus on its core strength - the designing and marketing of more innovative and exciting products for our customers," said Sim Wong Hoo, CEO of Creative Technology, in a statement. "We will be engaging in discussions to further monetize this valuable collection of 100-plus patents," Sim Wong Hoo added. Under the terms of the deal ZiiLabs Inc. Ltd. will remain a wholly-owned subsidiary of Creative and will retain ownership of the StemCell media processor patents and will continue to supply ZMS chips. Intel and Creative have been collaborating on an advanced motion-sensing camera and are in discussions on technology for media-rich tablet products, Creative said. The Creative transaction is expected to close before the end of 2012. Interestingly 3DLabs licensed its entire patent portfolio to Intel in 1999 for about $7.5 million.