Photo courtesy of enterprises
Oslo, Norway–December 1, 2020–-Nordic Semiconductor announced that it has acquired the entire Ensigma Wi-Fi development team of Imagination Technologies and related Ensigma Wi－Fi IP technology assets, thus expanding its internal wireless technology expertise to the Wi-Fi field. Imagination Technologies is the world’s leading enterprise in graphics, vision and AI processing technology.
The acquisition includes a large number of employees of Imagination Technologies in the UK, Sweden, India and Taiwan Province, China. Among them, about 15% employees are experts in low-power Bluetooth LE, and they will further strengthen the existing low-power Bluetooth team of Nordic.
Svein－Egil Nielsen, Chief Technology Officer of Nordic, commented: "For Nordic Semiconductor and its customers, this is a dream come true, especially in the smart home market. As the global leader of short-distance Bluetooth wireless technology and the emerging leader of long-distance cellular wireless Internet of Things, customers have been asking us to fill the gap between them. Since the acquisition target is IP-related, not directly saleable Wi-Fi products, it will take some time to achieve this goal. Anyway, we will now be able to add Wi-Fi function to the next generation of Nordic products.
"We are very honored and excited to find such a perfect Wi-Fi team with decades of most advanced Wi-Fi design experience and professional knowledge, from which we can learn all the knowledge about Wi-Fi wireless technology. We believe that by owning every link in the product chain and joining the Imagination Wi-Fi team, we will now be able to add the Wi-Fi hardware and software developed by Nordic from scratch, just like we have realized all other wireless product lines. "
Kjetil Holstad, Director of Product Management of Nordic, added: "The potential synergy between our traditional advantages of low-power wireless technology and the latest low-power evolution brought by Wi-Fi technology that can realize battery-powered IoT devices is really exciting. We plan to become an active member of the Wi-Fi alliance and work together with it, just as we continue to cooperate with many other major standards organizations and institutions to make use of our decades-long expertise in developing ultra-low-power wireless and maximize the potential of low-power wireless applications of Wi-Fi. "
"It is too early to comment on the impact of this acquisition on the details of Nordic products, but I can say that we intend to build a development platform and environment that integrates all our wireless technologies, which can realize all the advantages of Nordic that customers expect, including reducing technical barriers to entry, eliminating unnecessary design complexity, and helping customers easily add high-quality, low-power Wi-Fi functions and features to their products and applications based on Nordic technology."
Svenn－Tore Larsen, CEO of Nordic, added: "I am very satisfied that the Wi-Fi team brought by the acquisition can lead our wireless Internet of Things function into this field. We now plan to interact with the new employees of Nordic quickly. I want to assure everyone that Nordic is one of the best semiconductor companies in the world and has been successfully operating in many places around the world for a long time. Moreover, we intend to warmly welcome these new employees and integrate them into our daily operations and employee culture. "
Simon Beresford－Wylie, CEO of Imagination Technologies, said; "Although Wi-Fi was born in the consumer industry, it is now rapidly emerging in the field of industrial Internet of Things. Imagination is committed to developing graphics, vision and AI processing technologies. I believe that our Wi-Fi IP department will achieve better long-term development in an enterprise centered on wireless connection and become the focus of strategic, technical and commercial innovation and growth. I am very happy to find a beautiful home for our technology and team at Nordic Semiconductor. The two sides are really a perfect match. "