A maker of graphics chips (the legendary S3 ViRGE, Savage and Chrome), a division of VIA Technologies (Cher Wang's company) since 2001. In July 2011 HTC bought S3 Graphics from VIA and WTI for $300 million, primarily for its portfolio of 235 patents, including patents on S3TC texture compression, on which S3 had won an ITC ruling against Apple (Mac OS X). HTC planned to use them as leverage in its patent war with Apple, but in November 2011 the ITC reversed the ruling with respect to the iPhone/iPad, and the purchase turned out to be nearly useless. S3 Graphics exists as a small HTC division focused on patent licensing.
Specifications
| Deal | July 2011, $300 million |
|---|---|
| Seller | VIA Technologies / WTI Investment |
| Assets | 235 patents (S3TC, graphics) |
| Goal | patent defense against Apple |
| Outcome | ITC reversed its ruling against Apple in November 2011 |
Data from Wikipedia (en)
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|
From Wikipedia
S3 Graphics, Ltd. was an American computer graphics company. The company sold the Trio, ViRGE, Savage, and Chrome series of graphics processors. Struggling against competition from 3dfx Interactive, ATI and Nvidia, it merged with hardware manufacturer Diamond Multimedia in 1999. The resulting company renamed itself to SONICblue Incorporated, and, two years later, the graphics portion was spun off into a new joint effort with VIA Technologies. The new company focused on the mobile graphics market. VIA Technologies' stake in S3 Graphics was purchased by HTC in 2011.
Source: S3 Graphics — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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