NVIDIA Corporation acquired Icera for $367 million, a transaction completed in June 2011, structured as all cash.
Icera operates in Mobile / baseband processors, is based in United Kingdom. Icera developed baseband processors for 3G and 4G cellular phones and tablets, holding more than 550 patents granted or pending and shipping soft-modem products approved by over 50 carriers worldwide. NVIDIA acquired it for $367 million in cash. The plan was to pair Icera's modems with NVIDIA's Tegra application processor so NVIDIA could offer both of the main processors inside a smartphone.
By offering both the application processor (Tegra) and the baseband processor, NVIDIA said the combined company could shorten OEM time-to-market and roughly double its revenue opportunity per device, entering a baseband market it estimated at about $15 billion a year.
550+ patents and carrier-approved modem IP to complement Tegra in the fast-growing mobile market. Combined apps-plus-baseband offering; anticipated revenue synergies; expected accretive on an operating basis in H2 calendar 2012. Integrated into NVIDIA's mobile/Tegra organization.
Advisory firms were not disclosed for this transaction.