Imagination Technologies in Apple's crosshairs? Apple denies, for now

In recent hours have circulated a number of rumors regarding a thick comparison between Apple and Imagination Technologies for the acquisition of the latter by the Cupertino giant.

The rumors have been denied by Apple, which through a brief statement to the London Stock Exchange, said: "We had some confrontation with Imagination but we currently have no plans to make an offer [to acquire] the company". E ', however, worth noting the context as a whole without stopping to Apple's official statement.

Imagination Technologies is known for its PowerVR GPU line, which Apple uses within the SoC A-series since the A4 model used in the iPhone 4 and fourth-generation iPod Touch. The company has, over the years, tried to diversify its activities (specialized GPU ray tracing, CPU MIPS and IoT devices / DIY) but none of the attempts has been as successful as hoped.

During the month of February Imagination Technologies announced a corporate restructuring, which saw among others, the long-time CEO Hossein Yassaie take a step back. In the context of restructuring the company it announced last week, a cut of 350 jobs and focusing on PowerVR.

Since 2008, Apple purchased a substantial number of shares Imagination Technologies, such as to get to own an equity stake equal to 10% of the shares. This has enabled the work of Apple closely with Imagination to ensure that the GPU Power VR operate correctly and properly with the other blocks present in the A-Series SoC.

Also in 2008, Apple acquired PA Semi, a fabless company specializing in processor design, with an operation that was later revealed to the functional design of the CPU cores for SoC A-Series. The Acquisitions of Imagination Technologies then allow Apple to bring home even the configuration of CPU operations, which would enable you to better manage the development and evolution of its own technical solutions without the need to entrust the fate of a small British company (the Imagination Technologies has a current market capitalization of about 500 million pounds, equivalent to approximately 725 million dollars) which otherwise is in a situation of uncertainty.

Despite Apple's statement, Imagination Technologies continues to appear as a goal rather sensible for an acquisition. Moreover, the apple has specified that "at the time" did not prepare any offer is reasonable to assume that Apple is waiting for the conclusion of the company's restructuring operations, so you can better evaluate the possible operation.