SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. said it has acquired a display technology company known as Iridigm Display Corp. for $170 million in cash.
The sum accounts for 86 percent of the company that Qualcomm did not already own. The wireless chipmaker said it had taken part in two financing rounds of the company.
Iridigm makes a product called iMoD, which “can reduce power consumption and cost of color display and increase performance,” according to Jeff Belk, senior vice president of marketing.
This will enhance the capability of devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants and other wireless devices, according to the company.
Belk would not comment if Qualcomm will market the product for only CDMA-based devices.
The company, however, sees it as part of the convergence trend in the industry and Qualcomm’s strategy.
“The convergence of consumer electronics products, including cameras, MP3 players, camcorders, GPS receivers and game consoles, into wireless devices is driving the increased adoption of 3G CDMA,” said Paul E. Jacobs, executive vice president and president of Qualcomm’s Wireless and Internet group. “Our acquisition of Iridigm will accelerate the time to market for the iMoD technology, which fits Qualcomm’s overall strategy of rapidly increasing the capability of wireless devices while driving down cost, size and power consumption.”
