GENEVA--STMicroelectronics today announced it will pull out of the competitive PC graphics accelerator chip market and is now seeking a buyer for the related assets of the business.
The European chip maker said PC graphics ICs accounted for just $15 million of its $6.36 billion revenues in 2001. STMicroelectronics said the potential sale of the graphics business was in line with its strategy to focus more attention on core areas in communications, automotive electronics, smart cards, computer peripherals, and digital consumer products. The company did not say how many employees were involved in the PC graphics chip business.
For several years, STMicroelectronics has been going up against larger graphics chip suppliers, such as Nvidia Corp. and ATI Technologies Inc. Three years ago, the company teamed with U.K.-based Imagination Technologies Group, formerly called VideoLogic Group, to strengthen its three-dimensional graphics and video acceleration product offering (see April 8, 1999, story).
During a Taiwan trade show two years ago, ST claimed a breakthrough in 3-D graphics when it launched the Kyro accelerator, which combined technology from VideoLogic and its own digital video processing capability (see June 6, 2000, story).
Last year, Imagination Technologies and ST extended their partnership with development of new ICs for high-performance PC graphics and video accelerators, based on Imagination's PowerVR technology for three-dimensional images (see June 26 story).
(Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly said ST had acquired Imagination Technologies.)
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