The deal may point the way to a different direction by Intel than a much-rumored acquisition of Nvidia, following AMD’s purchase of ATI Technologies Inc. The Kings Langley, UK-based Imagination’s rival technology, developed for the mobile market, offers a less power-hungry processor and might be a more attractive alternative in the growth markets of portable devices.
Some element of Intel’s commitment is a decision by its investment arm Intel Capital to invest 5.28m pounds ($9.9m) in new shares, making it the owner of 2.9% of Imagination’s capital.
Imagination also announced that Texas Instruments Inc had licensed one of its graphics core family that it plans to use in its OMAP 3 application processor.
