Is Apple Moving Towards Mobile Chippery?

 

Apple it seems is preparing to take on Intel in the mobile chipset market; the Mac maker has been upping its stakes in a little known UK based chip manufacturer Imagination Technologies. Apple recently purchased an additional block of shares from the open market after having acquired a big bunch late last year.

 

Imagination Technologies designs chips for mobile-graphics and its designs are quickly catching the imagination of manufacturers. Intel was the first company to acquire a stake in this company when it picked up six million shares in late 2006. This was followed by a smaller purchase of 900,000 plus shares in December 2008.

 

The chip maker then increased its holdings in Imagination Technologies last Thursday when it purchased an additional 25 million shares. The three purchases peg Intel’s total holdings in Imagination at just under 14%.

 

Following closely in Intel’s footsteps, Apple too started making inroads into Imagination with an initial purchase of 8.2 million shares in December 2008. With its recent purchase of 11.52 million shares from the open market, Apple’s kitty has grown to nearly 20 million shares or 9.5% of the total.

 

The latest purchase puts Apple in direct competition with Intel in the mobile chippery market, though the latter is miles ahead in terms of total holdings of Imagination. While Intel has sizeable volume of shares in its hands, it has informed the London Stock Exchange that it has “no current intention to make an offer for Imagination Technologies Group.”

 

Apple too has displayed no such intentions. However, it does seem to be serious about entering the chip market; this is quite visible from its acquisition of chipmaker PA Semi in April 2008 and strong rumours that Apple’s own chip division is in the pipeline.

 

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