Imagination Tech Buys MIPS For $100M, Outbids Ceva

You don’t hear a lot about MIPS Technologies, Inc., but the company’s technology is important to the embedded processor industry and is found in millions of devices. It’s also apparently important to chip designers Imagination Technologies and Ceva, Inc.

The former has now outbid the latter and is buying MIPS for $100 million. The two companies had been embroiled in a bidding war, but Reuters reports that in the end, Ceva wasn’t willing to pony up any more cash and conceded victory to Imagination.

Imagination Technologies

Imagination is taking a bit of a risk here, as the company will reportedly need to borrow as much as $22 million to complete the purchase. It will be competing with ARM in the marketplace, which is a formidable foe, making the acquisition a fairly high-stakes gamble.

The purchase should be completed in Q1 2013.