NVIDIA to Acquire ULi Electronics For U.S. $52 Million

[Apoptosis]

NVIDIA to Acquire ULi Electronics, a Leading Developer of Core Logic Technology

TAIPEI, Taiwan and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec 14, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- NVIDIA Corporation , the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire ULi Electronics Inc. (ULi), one of the PC industry's most highly-regarded core logic developers. Headquartered in Taipei, ULi also has offices in Hsinchu; Shanghai; Shenzhen; and San Jose, California.

ULi is recognized for its innovative core logic technology as well as other multimedia and embedded products. The acquisition represents NVIDIA's ongoing investment in its platform solution strategy, which leverages the acclaimed NVIDIA nForce(R) media and communications processors (MCPs) and NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) and NVIDIA Quadro(R) graphics processing units (GPUs). Additionally, the acquisition is expected to strengthen the Company's sales, marketing, and customer engineering presence in Taiwan and China.

Under the terms of the agreement, NVIDIA will pay 19 New Taiwan Dollars in cash for each outstanding ULi share and stock option, for a total of approximately $52 million (USD). The acquisition, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of the Company's fiscal year 2007, remains subject to the satisfaction of regulatory requirements and other customary closing conditions.

Alex Kuo, president and chief executive officer, ULi, will join NVIDIA as a senior executive responsible for MCP sales, marketing, and support functions in Asia. NVIDIA intends to supply ULi customers with current products for the foreseeable future.

Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer, NVIDIA, stated: "Alex and his team have built a company admired for creating innovative products in the core logic arena. The acquisition provides an opportunity for NVIDIA to leverage a very talented engineering team in order to expand our MCP initiatives while building closer relationships with customers in Asia."

"At ULi, we have always believed that the opportunities in the MCP space are tremendous," added Mr. Kuo. "The strength of the NVIDIA world-class engineering and marketing organizations will enable the ULi team to take product design and development to the next level."

NVIDIA is the largest AMD core logic supplier in the world (Source: Mercury Research, Third Quarter 2005 PC CPU Report). NVIDIA nForce MCP revenue has increased 100 percent year-over-year and has achieved record revenue for five consecutive quarters.

About ULi

ULi Electronics Inc. is a leading fabless IC design company that develops world-class solutions for consumer electronics and professional computing products. ULi's expertise in the PC information industry and solid design capability position ULi as a major component supplier dedicated to bringing system manufacturers more highly integrated, performance enhancing, and cost effective IC solutions. For more information, visit http://www.uli.com.tw

About NVIDIA

NVIDIA Corporation is the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies. The Company creates innovative, industry-changing products for computing, consumer electronics, and mobile devices. NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, California and has offices throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas. For more information, visit http://www.nvidia.com

This is amazing news and is ironic as yesterday at lunch I was talking about how Nvidia is up to something as things with them were too quiet for normal. Turns out they were planning on buying ULi, which makes the chipsets for ATI's motherboards. Now Nvidia can control the chipset prices and quality on ATI's boards. The takeover is expected to take effect from the first quarter of Nvidia’s 2007 fiscal year (ends May 1, 2006).

[Kerii]

ATi -> <- nVidia



Now that's a suckerpunch, lol.


$52 million USD? Not a bad buy, is there a rebate too?

[allenpan]

now i will wanna buy ULi chipset, with NV as back, i have conferdant in ULi chipset and driver, else i was iffy if the driver will crap out sooner or later, but now, we goona see some uber chipset combination, like NF4Sli32+ULi1575+1697 in s ring drdign, as NF4 as main and aother 3 surrand it...lol 16*4 PCI-EX+AGP+16 SATA2, HD sound+AGP...lol what a uber mobo,

[kenc51]

Doesn't ATI have their SB450 southbridge chip in the making??

I suspect by the time NV actually takes control, ATI will have their own chipset!!!

What NV will be left with is a chipset company who has no customers, as they will all have chosen ATI, Intel for their chipsets or SIS etc for the cheaper market.

Mayby NV will move all the ULI engineers over to their own labs?
ULI will be broken down and sold off ?

[allenpan]

unlikey, ULi does not have soemthing that worth selling of, nv is going other their technology and partening, as for screwing ati is just a bonus, if u know Uli's 1697 is a single chip solution that is able to compete with NF4 1 vs 1 and cost much less. as for ati's SB450, is not as good as already exist Uli SB, which has GBlan, SATA2, HD sound, where SB450, does not have GBlan, nor sata 2

IXP400 IXP450 M1573 M1575
NB/SB IO PCI-E x 2 PCI-E x 2 PCI-E x 2 PCI-E x 2
IDE ATA133 x 2 ATA 133 x 2 ATA 133 x 2 ATA 133 x 2
SATA SATA x 4 SATA x 4 SATA x 4 SATA II x 4
SATARAID Mode 0

[kenc51]

Cool
Then hopefully ULi techs can help NV with their drivers......I would like to be able to enable that firewall on my Nf4 chipset some day! Not to mention that fact that if you reboot your pc, your luckey if your bios will see all drives again......I miss Intel chipsets for 1 reason.......THEY WORK everytime and all the time.....

[Tim Burton]

What does the SEC say about this purchase?