ATI said Tuesday that it had acquired BitBoys Oy, a Finnish graphics developer long known for its technology -- but not products.ATI said Tuesday that it had acquired Bitboys Oy, a Finnish graphics developer long known for its technology -- but not products.
Bitboys will be folded into ATI's Handheld Business Unit, an acquisition that will pay Bitboys 35.2 million euros, or about $44 million.
Although Bitboys was founded in 1991 as a PC graphics company, the firm never released a commercial part. In 2003, the firm announced plans to develop the Acceleron, a handheld part, which it reportedly showed off at the SIGGRAPH graphics show a year later, in 2004.
Tuesday, Bitboys executives said that ATI would be the leverage that would propel them to commercial success. "ATI gives us what we need to reach the next level," said Mikko Saari, chief executive of Bitboys, in a statement. "Their market presence and ability to sell our products as part of a complete multimedia lineup will prove incredibly valuable to us. It's a classic win-win, realizing value for both companies."
Bitboys will provide its graphics cores to ATI, which will work to integrate them into its portfolio. The acquisition will also add OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics and OpenVG 1.0 2D vector graphics technologies optimized for high-volume mainstream mobile phones to ATI's IP portfolio, the two companies said.
Graphics Tools 
