AMD sells off digital TV team to Broadcom
updated 03:10 pm EDT, Mon August 25, 2008
AMD Sells DTV to Broadcom
AMD today said it would sell off the digital TV portion of its business to Broadcom. The $192.8 million deal gives Broadcom access to all of AMD's digital TV processors made under its ATI label, including the Theater and Xilleon processors for tuning and processing HDTV images as well as a raft of smaller circuits and processors designed for common TV tasks such as scaling and converting video. The deal also gives the roughly 530 workers at the group the option of working for Broadcom.
AMD hasn't said whether this will affect the TV Wonder cards and adapters for computers, many of which use similar processors.
The move is positioned as an effort on Broadcom's part to jump into digital TV, which sits outside of its normal business of chipsets for cellphones, Wi-Fi, and other wireless communications. The acquiring company doesn't say what it plans to do with the technology but notably has focused most of its video efforts on mobile offline video rather than live TV.
AMD's sale of the group also helps it shed secondary aspects of its business to become more competitive against Intel in processors, where AMD has lately struggled as it trails behind in chipmaking technology. The company lately has already set out plans to spin off its factory business into a separate company to further offload unnecessary costs.
