Intel said on Friday it would buy Havok Inc, a provider of software
and services to the games and movie industries, as the world's top
chipmaker seeks to beef up its visual computing and graphics
efforts.
The privately held Irish company's technology has been used in some
of the most widely known video game titles, including "BioShock,"
"Stranglehold," "Halo 2," and "Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix."
"Havok is a proven leader in physics technology for gaming and
digital content, and will become a key element of Intel's visual
computing and graphics efforts," said Renee J. James, vice president
and general manager of Intel's Software and Solutions Group.
The deal comes ahead of Intel's biggest technical conference, the
Intel Developer Forum, in San Francisco next week. Intel is expected
to expand on plans for next-generation chip making technology,
commonly known as 45 nanometer, and give more details on its
forthcoming chip design change.
Havok's collection of software development tools is used by game and
digital-animation creators to build realistic video games for myriad
types of hardware and digitally animated movies, Intel said in a
statement.
The deal could also heighten competition with Intel's biggest rival
in microprocessors, AMD , which acquired video chip company ATI
Technologies nearly a year ago.
Intel has so far partnered closely with ATI rival Nvidia for
video-processing chips used in personal computers.
Havok, a Dublin-based company founded in 1998, will be a wholly
owned subsidiary of Intel and would continue to operate as an
independent business.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.