Qualcomm Buys the Remains of AMD's Handheld Business

Qualcomm has bought certain graphics and multimedia technology assets, intellectual property and resources that were once the source of Advanced Micro Devices (News - Alert) (AMD) handheld business.

 

Qualcomm says that it will use these newly obtained assets to improve their mobile’s multimedia capabilities and user experience.

 

AMD is a technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home and play. Qualcomm (News - Alert) deals in developing and delivering digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies.

 

“This acquisition of assets from AMD’s (News - Alert) 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.”

 

Qualcomm said the deal is worth $65 million in cash and added that under the agreement, it has extended offers of employment to design and development teams working for AMD's handheld business, although it did not detail the number of employees it would be looking to hire on. The company has encouraged teams that were working on 2D and 3D graphics, audio/video, display, and architecture for mobile devices.

 

AMD says selling their remains of the handheld business will now help them to shift their full attention to their core business and to uplift them to the top position in both the x86 computing and high-end graphics sectors. And the company has also added that along with the resources and technology their workforce too will be of a great asset to Qualcomm.

 

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.