It is reported that the owner of Imagination has entrusted Lazard to search for buyers
Jan 04,2025
According to reports, insiders have revealed that Canyon Bridge Capital Partners has hired Lazard Inc. to search for buyers for chip design company Imagination.
Insiders say that this private equity firm, which has connections with Chinese state-owned investors, believes it can obtain more funds than the 550 million pounds (681 million US dollars) it paid when acquiring Imagination in 2017, and the fixed term of Canyon Bridge Fund, which owns the chip manufacturer, is nearing its end. Lazard is currently in contact with potential buyers and has received some inquiries.
According to the product list, Texas Instruments, MediaTek, and Renesas Electronics all use Imagination's technology in their chips, mainly for in car electronic products. According to reports, Alphabet's Google is also its customer. Insiders say that Imagination's owners believe that with the rapid development of artificial intelligence computing, their intellectual property and chip design teams have become more valuable.
Graphics chip technology is the core of accelerators that accelerate the process of training and running artificial intelligence software. NVIDIA has leveraged the high demand for such hardware and has become one of the world's most valuable companies. Although Imagination focuses on lower performance mobile version technology and cannot directly compete with Nvidia, many companies are committed to introducing AI into battery powered devices such as smartphones.
It is reported that Imagination is headquartered in Hertfordshire, UK and holds approximately 3500 patents related to this technology, many of which have been recently applied for. The company also has a chip design team consisting of 650 engineers.
In addition, Imagination CEO Simon Beresford Wylie denied media reports that he will resign, stating that he has no specific retirement plan. He said that the company has authorized some customers in China to use its graphics processing units (GPUs), which are older products used for personal computer graphics cards. He said that when the US government identified some of these clients as posing a security risk and included them in the entity list, which meant that providing them with technology required obtaining permission from the US government, Imagination immediately stopped supporting them.
Canyon Bridge, supported by China Reform Fund Management, acquired Imagination in 2017 and took it private after the company ended its partnership with Apple. Apple previously relied on Imagination to provide graphic elements for the chips used in its iconic products.
Insiders say that this private equity firm, which has connections with Chinese state-owned investors, believes it can obtain more funds than the 550 million pounds (681 million US dollars) it paid when acquiring Imagination in 2017, and the fixed term of Canyon Bridge Fund, which owns the chip manufacturer, is nearing its end. Lazard is currently in contact with potential buyers and has received some inquiries.
According to the product list, Texas Instruments, MediaTek, and Renesas Electronics all use Imagination's technology in their chips, mainly for in car electronic products. According to reports, Alphabet's Google is also its customer. Insiders say that Imagination's owners believe that with the rapid development of artificial intelligence computing, their intellectual property and chip design teams have become more valuable.
Graphics chip technology is the core of accelerators that accelerate the process of training and running artificial intelligence software. NVIDIA has leveraged the high demand for such hardware and has become one of the world's most valuable companies. Although Imagination focuses on lower performance mobile version technology and cannot directly compete with Nvidia, many companies are committed to introducing AI into battery powered devices such as smartphones.
It is reported that Imagination is headquartered in Hertfordshire, UK and holds approximately 3500 patents related to this technology, many of which have been recently applied for. The company also has a chip design team consisting of 650 engineers.
In addition, Imagination CEO Simon Beresford Wylie denied media reports that he will resign, stating that he has no specific retirement plan. He said that the company has authorized some customers in China to use its graphics processing units (GPUs), which are older products used for personal computer graphics cards. He said that when the US government identified some of these clients as posing a security risk and included them in the entity list, which meant that providing them with technology required obtaining permission from the US government, Imagination immediately stopped supporting them.
Canyon Bridge, supported by China Reform Fund Management, acquired Imagination in 2017 and took it private after the company ended its partnership with Apple. Apple previously relied on Imagination to provide graphic elements for the chips used in its iconic products.