Qualcomm to acquire Chip Design startup Nuvia to focus on 5G and Connected Computing

Qualcomm Technologies Inc is now going to acquire Nuvia, a California-based chip design company for the high-performance computing environment for around $1.4 billion.

The acquisition deal is subject to customary closing conditions.

Cristiano Amon, Pre    sident, and CEO-Elect, Qualcomm Incorporated, said, "5G, the convergence of computing and mobile architectures, and the expansion of mobile technologies into other industries are significant opportunities for Qualcomm. The NUVIA team are proven innovators, and like Qualcomm, have a strong heritage in creating leading technology and products. I am very excited to have them join our team. Together, we are very well positioned to redefine computing and enable our ecosystem of partners to drive innovation and deliver a new class of products and experiences for the 5G era."

Jim Thompson, Chief Technology Officer of Qualcomm, said, "Creating high performance, low-power processors and highly integrated, complex SoCs are part of our DNA. Adding NUVIA's deep understanding of the high-performance design and integrating NUVIA CPUs with Snapdragon - together with our industry-leading graphics and AI - will take computing performance to a new level and drive new capabilities for products that serve multiple industries." 

The acquisition of Nuvia builds on Qualcomm Technologies Snapdragon technology leadership. It helps in improving overall power efficiency and CPU performance to meet the demands of the next generation 5G computing.

The addition of NUVIA CPUs to Qualcomm Technologies mobile graphics processing unit, DSP, AI engine, and dedicated multimedia accelerators will further help in extending the leadership of Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms. The acquisition will also position Snapdragons as the preferred platform for the future of connected computing, notes the announcement.

NUVIA has a team, having high expertise in high-performance processors, power management for compute-intensive devices & applications, and Systems on a Chip.

As a part of the deal, Nuvia founders, John Bruno, Gerard Williams III, Manu Gulati, and their team will join Qualcomm.