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

[Gstanfor]

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Please do not create another other locked threads regarding this union of these companies.

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Press Release

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

TAIPEI, Taiwan and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), 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.

(Logo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020613/NVDALOGO )

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 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 www.nvidia.com.

Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements regarding the anticipated benefits of the acquisition of ULi Electronics, the anticipated closing and timing of the closing of the acquisition, NVIDIA continued supply to current ULi customers, and the employment of Mr. Kuo by NVIDIA are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk that we will not realize the anticipated benefits of this acquisition, the risk that we may not be able to complete the acquisition, risks associated with acquisitions including the ability to successfully integrate technologies, employees and operations, diversion of management's attention, retaining key employees, ULi customers ending their relationship with ULi after the completion of the acquisition, risks associated with international operations, trends in the semiconductor and MCP industries, failure in NVIDIA MCP initiatives, the impact of competitive products and technological advances, reliance on third party manufacturers, market acceptance of new products and technologies and other risks detailed from time to time in the NVIDIA reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission including its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 30, 2005. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof. NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

NOTE: All company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.


For Further Information, contact:

Hazel Heng
NVIDIA Corporation, Asia-Pacific
+65-348-0330
hheng@nvidia.com

Calisa Cole
NVIDIA Corporation
+1-408-486-6263
ccole@nvidia.com

Cynthia Lee
ULi Taipei
+886-2-8752-2143
cynthia.lee@uli.com.tw


SOURCE NVIDIA Corporation
-0- 12/14/2005
/CONTACT: Hazel Heng of NVIDIA Corporation, Asia-Pacific, +65-348-0330,
or hheng@nvidia.com, or Calisa Cole of NVIDIA Corporation, +1-408-486-6263, or
ccole@nvidia.com; or Cynthia Lee of ULi Taipei, +886-2-8752-2143, or
cynthia.lee@uli.com.tw/
/Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020613/NVDALOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com/
/Web site: http://www.nvidia.com
http://www.uli.com.tw /
(NVDA)

CO: NVIDIA Corporation; ULi Electronics Inc.; ULi
ST: California, Taiwan
IN: CPR CSE ENT HRD ECP MLM PEL
SU: TNM

SF-JP
-- SFW054 --
6625 12/14/2005 01:00 EST http://www.prnewswire.com

Edit: it seems that this doesn't actually include the fabrication portion of ULi, but still very interesting, nonetheless.

EDIT2: This presumably means that some future ATi crossfire motherboards will be utilising nVidia owned IP...

 

[shimsham]

same ULi that makes this chipset?

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: shimsham
same ULi that makes this chipset?

I think so, and the same ULi that makes the chipset reviewed on the main page.

This is bad news, but there's not much we can do about it unfortunately.

 

[Gstanfor]

Why is it bad news?

IMO it's great news for ULi's engineers who have been on a steep downward decline since well before ALi became ULi.

They are now part of a strong company that will definitely put their talents to good use - good for end-users and the engineers.

 

[fliguy84]

so after this, will ULi chipsets still be around? or nvidia will halt them to focus more on nforce chipsets

 

[nts]

Originally posted by: fliguy84
so after this, will ULi chipsets still be around? or nvidia will halt them to focus more on nforce chipsets

There is no reason to have two competing chipsets from the same company (no company competes with itself ). Focus will probably be on NFORCE, for the name atleast. ULI will likely become the low end.

 

[RobertR1]

As long as this means more cool stuff for US, I'm all for it!

 

[otispunkmeyer]

this is good because now we'll have 2 of the best (in my opinion) chipset makers working together.....we should some pretty neat stuff.

or you can say its bad news because another horse just dropped out the race.

 

[gunblade]

Well, now Ati has to work on their own south bridge instead of enjoying a fallback partner.

 

[AmdInside]

Originally posted by: gunblade
Well, now Ati has to work on their own south bridge instead of enjoying a fallback partner.

I was just going to say that. Its a good thing for Microsoft that they went with SiS chipset and not ULi for Xbox 360 or else they might experience "shortages" all of a sudden.

 

[5150Joker]

LOL I can't wait to see the spin nVidia fans put on this one - especially the ones that were saying ULi is trash. Now they'll do a 180 and praise it since nVidia is buying them out.

 

[mrkun]

Originally posted by: nts
There is no reason to have two competing chipsets from the same company (no company competes with itself ).

Ever heard of a company called General Motors?

 

[Gstanfor]

Originally posted by: 5150Joker
LOL I can't wait to see the spin nVidia fans put on this one - especially the ones that were saying ULi is trash. Now they'll do a 180 and praise it since nVidia is buying them out.

:disgust: Uhhh... I'm a nVidia supporter and the OP...

ULi has some decent engineers. They make a good Southbridge, their northbridges were and are trash however (I can speak from experience here, having owned an ASUS P5A-B motherboard based on the ALi (ULi) chipset (their intel chipset of the time was little better than the Super-7 one).

The main thing that held ULi back was a lack of real interest in their products from manufacturers so a lot of engineering talent was wasted. It will be interesting to see what they do for nVidia.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: mrkun

Originally posted by: nts
There is no reason to have two competing chipsets from the same company (no company competes with itself ).

Ever heard of a company called General Motors?

ever heard of british leyland? they did the same back in the 70's they owned aston, lagonda,jag,austin,rover, etc etc....all the british car manufacturers pretty much owned by leyland. and they competed against each other.

and well...........look at our car industry now,......its non existant. jag and aston are owned by ford, rover is dead, volkswagen own rolls, russian dude owns TVR, i think maybe Morgan and a few specialist makers are all that remain. Lotus even sold out to proton

 

[5150Joker]

Originally posted by: Gstanfor

Originally posted by: 5150Joker
LOL I can't wait to see the spin nVidia fans put on this one - especially the ones that were saying ULi is trash. Now they'll do a 180 and praise it since nVidia is buying them out.

:disgust: Uhhh... I'm a nVidia supporter and the OP...

ULi has some decent engineers. They make a good Southbridge, their northbridges were and are trash however (I can speak from experience here, having owned an ASUS P5A-B motherboard based on the ALi (ULi) chipset (their intel chipset of the time was little better than the Super-7 one).

The main thing that held ULi back was a lack of real interest in their products from manufacturers so a lot of engineering talent was wasted. It will be interesting to see what they do for nVidia.

Uh oh, if they had trash northbridges, maybe they'll infect nVidia. On a more serious note, I agree with people thinking this isn't good for the industry. Less competition is what made the video and CPU industry a two-horse race and it limits your choices. Unless VIA figures out a way to make SLI/Crossfire work with their chipsets, they're screwed too.

 

[redbox]

I don't really know what to think about this one. On one hand we have people who say good now both sets of talented people will work together. Then on the other side we have people and I am one of them who say that, " oh that kinda sucks". My reasoning and tell me if I am wrong in this logic: We all hear about how good compition is in regard to the computer industry, look at Intel and AMD for instance. How much motivation do you think Intel had to make better, faster products before AMD came along. Now look at the cpu market we have so much to pick from. We have many dual cores, even more singel cores and at all different price ranges. I really welcome some of the inovations Uli seam to be pushing for ie better on board sound. I really don't want a giant company like Nvidia to end compition before it starts. Can you imagine what computers would be like if Intel had bought out AMD when they where starting to make headway.

On another note I am not sure just how many people from Uli Nvidia will employee. Do you guys think they will down size Uli. Just some of my thoughts tell me if I am way off.

 

[Gstanfor]

Originally posted by: 5150Joker

Originally posted by: Gstanfor

Originally posted by: 5150Joker
LOL I can't wait to see the spin nVidia fans put on this one - especially the ones that were saying ULi is trash. Now they'll do a 180 and praise it since nVidia is buying them out.

:disgust: Uhhh... I'm a nVidia supporter and the OP...

ULi has some decent engineers. They make a good Southbridge, their northbridges were and are trash however (I can speak from experience here, having owned an ASUS P5A-B motherboard based on the ALi (ULi) chipset (their intel chipset of the time was little better than the Super-7 one).

The main thing that held ULi back was a lack of real interest in their products from manufacturers so a lot of engineering talent was wasted. It will be interesting to see what they do for nVidia.

Uh oh, if they had trash northbridges, maybe they'll infect nVidia. On a more serious note, I agree with people thinking this isn't good for the industry. Less competition is what made the video and CPU industry a two-horse race and it limits your choices. Unless VIA figures out a way to make SLI/Crossfire work with their chipsets, they're screwed too.

Yeah, right! maybe won't have them do any Northbridge work? Not that I could care less anyhow. Current AMD cpu's don't require a Northbridge and Intel owners deserve what they get.

 

[Mem]

This is bad news, but there's not much we can do about it unfortunately.

Smart move by Nvidia,however less competition is always bad for us.Remember Nvidia takes the motherboard industry as serious as their graphics cards.

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: Gstanfor
Why is it bad news?

it means NVIDIA is going ahead in its plans to become a monopoly in Graphic and motherboard sector. Any company that wants to play the monopoly game is evil in my eye 0_0

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: 5150Joker
LOL I can't wait to see the spin nVidia fans put on this one - especially the ones that were saying ULi is trash. Now they'll do a 180 and praise it since nVidia is buying them out.

Teh Devil!

This nVidia fan still isn't totally sold on ULI(ALI), but is LOL at how smart of a business move this is.

As noted by me in other threads, it's obvious the ULI Southbridge is a big improvement over ATIs crappy one, so at very least nVidia gets to choose whether or not any Crossfire motherboards will have ULI Southbridges.

Merry Christmas ATI, here's your coal.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986

Originally posted by: Gstanfor
Why is it bad news?

it means NVIDIA is going ahead in its plans to become a monopoly in Graphic and motherboard sector. Any company that be play the monopoly game is evil in my eye 0_0

It's very difficult to achieve a monopoly though, entrepreneurs will always want a piece of the profits.

 

[Creig]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: 5150Joker
LOL I can't wait to see the spin nVidia fans put on this one - especially the ones that were saying ULi is trash. Now they'll do a 180 and praise it since nVidia is buying them out.

Teh Devil!

This nVidia fan still isn't totally sold on ULI(ALI), but is LOL at how smart of a business this is.

As noted by me in other threads, it's obvious the ULI Southbridge is a big improvement over ATIs crappy one, so at very least nVidia gets to choose whether or not any Crossfire motherboards will have ULI Southbridges.

Merry Christmas ATI, here's your coal.

I'm pretty sure Uli/ATI already have licensing agreements in place that won't be affected by this takeover.


And as noted by Wesley Fink:

Users were more disturbed than ATI may have thought with the limitations of the SB450 south bridge. In practical terms, it made no real difference at all in performance, since SATA2 is not really faster than SATA1 with current drives, and most USB transfers don't come even fractionally close to taxing the transfer capabilities of USB 2.0.

So much for "crappy".

 

[Gstanfor]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986

Originally posted by: Gstanfor
Why is it bad news?

it means NVIDIA is going ahead in its plans to become a monopoly in Graphic and motherboard sector. Any company that be play the monopoly game is evil in my eye 0_0

Errr, with Intel, VIA, SiS, ATi etc all in the chipset market it doesn't look too much like a monopoly to me ? :shocked: :roll:

Of course I won't deny that it does help improve nVidia's position against its competitors, here (in part) is what Uttar @ B3D has to say:

Obviously, NVIDIA's goal in this - besides getting a new pool of top-notch engineers - is screwing VIA, SiS and ATI at the same time. VIA and SiS by getting a much better positioning against them in their key markets, and ATI by making sure they don't have access to rescue plans if they fuckup their southbridges once again. This might also force ATI to phase out its original Crossfire chipset faster than expected, preventing them from gaining momentum in the low-end market.

This means that nVidia's competitors are going to have to respond in some way. If they can't (or won't) respond, they don't deserve to compete in the first place.

 

[erwos]

Be that as it may, you gotta admit nVidia's been sticking it to ATI pretty frequently these days - pretty obvious that someone's thinking on his/her feet. Observe:
1. ATI announces X1800XT - nVidia pulls out the 7800GTX512, beating the X1800XT soundly in most benchmarks.
2. ATI announces X1600 - nVidia pulls out the 6800GS, beating the X1600 soundly in most benchmarks.
3. ATI announces X1300 - nVidia pulls out the 6600 DDR2, beat the X1300 soundly in most benchmarks.
4. ATI announces new chipset - nVidia buys out ATI's leading southbridge partner, leaving ATI without a well-regarded SB.

As for the USB performance, it matters to those of us who use multiple USB drives. Heck, I nearly built a RAID 5 out of them (ended up using 1394a, since my USB bus was already crowded).

-Erwos

 

[Gstanfor]

Originally posted by: erwos
Be that as it may, you gotta admit nVidia's been sticking it to ATI pretty frequently these days - pretty obvious that someone's thinking on his/her feet. Observe:
1. ATI announces X1800XT - nVidia pulls out the 7800GTX512, beating the X1800XT soundly in most benchmarks.
2. ATI announces X1600 - nVidia pulls out the 6800GS, beating the X1600 soundly in most benchmarks.
3. ATI announces X1300 - nVidia pulls out the 6600 DDR2, beat the X1300 soundly in most benchmarks.
4. ATI announces new chipset - nVidia buys out ATI's leading southbridge partner, leaving ATI without a well-regarded SB.

As for the USB performance, it matters to those of us who use multiple USB drives. Heck, I nearly built a RAID 5 out of them (ended up using 1394a, since my USB bus was already crowded).

-Erwos

You bet nVidia has been sticking it to Ati lately. This is sweet payback for all the garbage ATi has hurled nVidia's way over the years. Don't expect it to end aytime soon, either.

BTW, ATi has brought this upon itself, to the best of my knowledge, nVidia has never treated ATi as poorly in public as ATi has treated nVidia.