A start-up led by former Google and Apple employees, Nuvia, was acquired by Qualcomm last year. Qualcomm wants Nuvia’s custom Arm chip because it could use it to more effectively compete with Apple. To put things in perspective, one of Nuvia’s executives was regarded as the Apple Silicon M1 chipset’s “Chief Architect.” According to a report by The Information, Nuvia was a takeover target for a number of businesses, including Google. The Information also said that Apple had issues with the next-generation GPU it was developing for the A16 Bionic.

A “world-class CPU and design team with experience in high-performance CPUs, Systems on a Chip (SoC), and power management for compute-intensive devices and applications” is touted to be the foundation of NUVIA. The combination with Qualcomm will strengthen Qualcomm’s position as a market leader. Qualcomm is already well-known for its mobile GPUs, DSP, and dedicated multimedia accelerators. The results of Nuvia’s work are already evident in Qualcomm Oryon, a product that is based on work done at Nuvia.

This is especially a very good idea because it’s extremely possible that Google was pursuing Nuvia for its own Tensor chips. Google’s Tensor effort for Pixel smartphones offers it some control over the SoCs that go into its handsets, but having its own chipset designers ready to go with bespoke Arm cores would mean that it would no longer have to rely on Samsung and its Exynos chips for reference designs in the future. 

Qualcomm confirmed that NUVIA CPUs will be integrated with its current portfolio of products, which includes mobile processors for flagship smartphones, next-generation laptops, digital cockpits, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, extended reality, and infrastructure networking solutions when it acquired the Nuvia. According to a press release issued by Qualcomm, the agreement was signed to acquire NUVIA for about $1.4 billion.

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The post Google Possibly Wanted To Buy Nuvia; Here’s Why appeared first on Gizmochina.

Qualcomm powers several products including smartphones, computers, and automobiles. Now, its processors are about to get more powerful as it has announced it is planning to acquire NUVIA, an American silicon design company.

A press statement released by Qualcomm says that it has entered into an agreement to acquire NUVIA for approximately $1.4 billion (excluding working capital and other adjustments). The acquisition is still subject to regulatory approval.

Very excited about @nuvia_inc joining @Qualcomm. They’re a world-class CPU and high-performance SoC design team & together we’ll redefine computing and drive innovation for the 5G era! Can’t wait to welcome you to #TeamQualcomm! pic.twitter.com/ELWLskw1Dc

— Cristiano R. Amon (@cristianoamon) January 13, 2021

NUVIA is said to be made up of “a world-class CPU and design team that has experience in high-performance processors, Systems on a Chip (SoC), and power management for compute-intensive devices and applications.” The merger with Qualcomm, which is already known for its mobile GPUs, DSP, and dedicated multimedia accelerators, will further propel Qualcomm as a leader in the industry.

Qualcomm says that NUVIA CPUs will be integrated with its current portfolio of products which includes mobile processors for flagship smartphones, next-gen laptops, digital cockpits, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, extended reality, and infrastructure networking solutions.

EDITOR’S PICK: Chip Battle: The Exynos 2100 challenges the Snapdragon 888

CEO-elect and current president of Qualcomm, Cristiano Amon, said he is excited at NUVIA joining their team while Jim Thompson, the Chief Technology Officer said that the integration of NUVIA CPUs with Snapdragon including will take computing performance to a new level and drive new capabilities for products that serve multiple industries.”

Incredible show of support from our customers and partners for the @nuvia_inc acquisition. Thank you for your partnership! I look forward to seeing how Nuvia CPUs + #Snapdragon help you create a new class of leading products for the #5G era. https://t.co/gpPV4g94fO pic.twitter.com/ifmcfKUvMd

— Cristiano R. Amon (@cristianoamon) January 13, 2021

The press release also included words of support from Qualcomm’s partners such as Microsoft, Xiaomi, HMD Global, Google, Samsung, Sharp, ASUS, General Motors, and even Honor.

Biao Wan, Chairman of Honor Device Co. Ltd is quoted to have said “As a new, independent company committed to bringing breakthrough mobile experiences to consumers, we are pleased to see that Qualcomm will acquire NUVIA, enabling them to continue to lead in developing and delivering premium performance Snapdragon mobile platforms to the market,”. The inclusion of the former Huawei-subsidiary further confirms that Honor smartphones powered by Snapdragon processors are on the way.

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