Apple Computer has upped its stake in British semiconductor firm Imagination Technologies to 9.5pc. The company’s stock has risen 90-fold as Intel and Apple rushed to buy shares in recent weeks.
Hertfordshire-based Imagination Technologies designs chips used in laptops and smartphones, and its technology is seen as strategically important by both Intel and Apple in terms of chips that go into the latest laptops and mobile devices, including the iPhone (pictured).
Intel, for example, is targeting the television and mobile markets and currently holds 10 licences from Imagination for certain chip products.
Imagination makes over half of its £64m sterling a year from sales of chip designs, the rest comes from its popular Pure-branded consumer electronic devices such as internet radios and digital media players.
Last week, Intel bought £20m sterling worth of shares in Imagination from investment group Saad.
By John Kennedy
