Qualcomm said on Tuesday it bought the handheld technology assets of computer chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) for $65 million to expand its graphics and multimedia offerings.
Qualcomm already leads the market for cell phone chips. AMD, which announced plans in July to divest their handset technology business, said that sale would allow it to focus on its core businesses of computer processors and graphics chips.
Under the terms of their agreement Qualcomm said it offered jobs to design and development teams from AMD’s handheld business who are working on mobile device technologies in areas including 2D and 3D graphics, audio, video and display.
Qualcomm Chief Executive Paul Jacobs said late on Tuesday that “business continued to be strong” and that he expected handset shipments to increase 25 percent this year from 2008.
In comparison leading phone maker Nokia has said it expects the entire handset market to fall at least 5 percent next year, including older phones based on the GSM technology standard and not included in Qualcomm’s estimate.
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Cody Acree estimated that the AMD business could bring in revenue of about $20 million a quarter for Qualcomm, which analysts expect to report revenue of $2.4 billion for its fiscal first quarter ended in December.
In other handheld news, Microsoft is expected to start delivering its Windows Mobile 6.5 to handset makers in mid-2009, reports Digitimes. It is expected debut the new mobile OS in the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC), next month in Barcelona.
Windows Mobile 6.5 mobile devices are expected to hit the market in the third quarter of 2009, although most makers may wait to launch their Mobile 6.5 handsets in the fourth quarter.
