Sigma signs definitive agreement for acquisition of Gennum’s VXP Image Processing business
(Business News, 07 Jan 2008 )
Sigma Designs has signed a definitive agreement to acquire assets of the VXP Image Processing business from Gennum Corp., a Canada-based company that designs innovative optical, analog and mixed-signal semiconductor solutions and IP cores for the world’s most advanced consumer connectivity, enterprise, video broadcast and data communications products.
Consumers in the U.S. and abroad are moving steadily toward a complete home ecosystem comprised of high definition video, including HDTV televisions, premium HD video services and Blu-ray/HD-DVD players. As a consequence, there is an increasing expectation that the on-screen image will be a near perfect reproduction of the original film or video and that processing artifacts will be virtually eliminated. This level of perfection results from the myriad of techniques employed in high performance image processing, which Sigma intends to offer as part of their future line of integrated media processor SoCs for HDTV and other markets.
Gennum’s VXP group's advanced single-chip image processors deliver broadcast studio quality, artifact-free images for professional AV processing, video projection, and digital television applications. Over the last five years, the VXP group has achieved many industry firsts, including the first integrated 10-bit video processing solution, the first true 1080p de-interlacing solution and the first independent channel dual-core video processor. Its advanced image processing algorithms include scaling, de-interlacing, frame rate conversion, noise reduction and image enhancement. Sigma expects this acquisition to be accretive to its earnings in fiscal year 2009 through revenue growth and improved cost efficiencies.
Upon completion of the acquisition, the VXP group will remain in the greater Toronto area as a technology center focused on the development of image processing solutions for integrated consumer chipsets as well as growing their present business in leading edge professional and home theatre applications. The group currently employs approximately 46 people, 42 of which are engineers with expertise in algorithms, IC design and software development. The VXP group holds rights to a total of ten patent applications and has rights to use three patents.
