Imagination Technologies up for sale [2017]

Arun · Oct 5, 2017

I think MT6739 is a direct replacement for MT6735/MT6737, not MT6738 (which supports 1080p displays and LTE Cat6, while the MT6739 is 720p/Cat5 - of course MT6739 might still end up cannibalising MT6738 sales). I'm currently using a Cubot Dinosaur with the MT6735 as my travel phone (dual-SIM, massive battery life, etc.) so I'm actually looking forward to buying a similar device using the MT6739! At 720p, GE8100 is *more* than enough for 60FPS on Android 8.0 UI and all common casual games.

It will be a nice memorandum of my time at Imagination/PowerVR... My last day was last friday, but there's still a lot of great people and exciting technology! I'm confident they'll be very successful so long as they can retain enough of their key engineers... It's an open question whether the new owners will be able to improve financial compensastion (and morale) enough to do so. I hope they will.

bdmosky · Oct 6, 2017

Arun said: ↑

I think MT6739 is a direct replacement for MT6735/MT6737, not MT6738 (which supports 1080p displays and LTE Cat6, while the MT6739 is 720p/Cat5 - of course MT6739 might still end up cannibalising MT6738 sales). I'm currently using a Cubot Dinosaur with the MT6735 as my travel phone (dual-SIM, massive battery life, etc.) so I'm actually looking forward to buying a similar device using the MT6739! At 720p, GE8100 is *more* than enough for 60FPS on Android 8.0 UI and all common casual games.

It will be a nice memorandum of my time at Imagination/PowerVR... My last day was last friday, but there's still a lot of great people and exciting technology! I'm confident they'll be very successful so long as they can retain enough of their key engineers... It's an open question whether the new owners will be able to improve financial compensastion (and morale) enough to do so. I hope they will.
Click to expand...

Do you know where you are headed next?

Ailuros · Oct 6, 2017

Arun said: ↑

It will be a nice memorandum of my time at Imagination/PowerVR... My last day was last friday, but there's still a lot of great people and exciting technology! I'm confident they'll be very successful so long as they can retain enough of their key engineers... It's an open question whether the new owners will be able to improve financial compensastion (and morale) enough to do so. I hope they will.
Click to expand...

Et tu, Brute?

tangey · Apr 14, 2020

How times have changed. According to the article, being investigated by MPs over concerns its IP could be used to finetune backdoors in key infrastructure by the chinese governement. IMG's parent company is now registered in the cayman islands (thats always a good sign !), eliminating US oversight that was central to the UK government allowing the sale at the time.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52275201

Ailuros · Apr 22, 2020

tangey said: ↑

How times have changed. According to the article, being investigated by MPs over concerns its IP could be used to finetune backdoors in key infrastructure by the chinese governement. IMG's parent company is now registered in the cayman islands (thats always a good sign !), eliminating US oversight that was central to the UK government allowing the sale at the time.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52275201
Click to expand...

pharma · May 3, 2020

Is IPO in China Imagination’s Only Possible Exit Path?
April 5, 2020

Imagination’s saga is being spun at least four different ways, as those with different agendas and vested interests attempt to control the perception of what is happening with the company. Here’s the essence of each of those views:

1. China is trying to exert additional control over Imagination. That is not good for the UK’s economy. There’s an increased risk that employment and/or IP development will be moved from the U.K.

2. Imagination is already controlled by China. Little will change. Chinese financiers already own Imagination through investment company Canyon Bridge, whose key backer is China Reform. China Reform is a $30 billion venture fund controlled by the Chinese government.

3. Imagination, “for its foreseeable future,” will keep its head office in the U.K. “IP moves around the world by licensing it.” So, what’s your problem?

4. Former CEO Ron Black recently left Imagination not because of China’s growing control over the company, but because he couldn’t save the company from a deep financial trouble the company was already in.

Based on many conversations and reports over the last couple of weeks, it’s becoming clear that this is not an ownership or political issue as is being made out in the UK media. It’s much more fundamental: that of Imagination’s survival. I was waiting for some piece of evidence before writing this article, and it came in the form of a Reuters report this week that highlighted Imagination’s precarious financial position: it was significantly loss-making with an adjusted annual operating loss of $23 million in 2019 under Black’s leadership (Black resigned earlier this month). Our own sources also suggest a similar figure, indicating that Black was running out of options for the company, and he turned the issue into a political one as his parting shot.

Hence our thoughts so far on the situation are as follows: Imagination Technologies’ financial performance caused concern among its owner investors and prompted them to look at ways of stemming the losses. Part of that would mean adding better governance and control on current management, which would also help control costs. Meanwhile, the CEO needed to look at ways of re-inventing the company and was probably pursuing significant additional investment to develop new RISC-V products.

But the only way investors potentially wanting to invest in a loss-making company would probably have been Chinese investors, since there would be a demand for development of new IP locally. However, the additional governance that the owners needed worried management, believing it would mean Chinese control, without realizing Chinese funds already own the company. Hence, they make a political play of it.
Click to expand...

https://www.eetimes.com/is-ipo-in-china-imaginations-only-possible-exit-path/#

^M^ · May 9, 2020

> Meanwhile, the CEO needed to look at ways of re-inventing the company and was probably pursuing significant additional investment to develop new RISC-V products.

So twenty years after Super H they're back working on RISC core.
Imagination seems to still not know what they are.

Rootax · May 9, 2020

I guess they have some demands if they're working on it ?

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Imagination Technologies up for sale [2017]

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