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Apple Buys Chip Maker PA Semi

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 9:30 AM - by

Apple revealed late on Tuesday that it has agreed to buy PA Semi, a company that designs embedded microprocessors. Sources close to the deal said the transaction cost the Mac, iPhone and iPod maker US$278 million in cash, according to Forbes.

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling stated "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not comment on our purposes and plans."

Even though Apple isn't commenting on its plans for PA Semi, it seems possible that it could be considering using the chip maker's designs for upcoming products that rely on embedded processors, like new iPods or even the iPhone. If so, that could spell bad news for Intel and its push to convince Apple that the iPhone should be based on its chip sets.

Apple could also be considering licensing the chip designs to other companies since PA Semi's product designs do offer compelling options for electronic devices. The company introduced a 64-bit dual-core processor that it claimed was 200 percent more efficient than comparable chips thanks to its 2GHz processor speed and five to 13 watt power consumption.

PA Semi's chips are already running on hardware sold by NEC, but they aren't likely to show up in any Apple products for at least a year because of product development cycles.

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Sir Harry Flashman said:

member since 08 Feb 2007 with 792 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:22 am

Is it possible that wants a chip such as this in Macs, and other Apple products, so that it is required for OSX to start up. What I am thinking is of a way to stop the Psystar type of operations where someone is selling a Mac clone. If Apple owns this chip and the copyright on the embedded software then it would be deuce difficult for cloners to copy the Mac. There would still be an Intel chip in the Mac, but the PA Semi would be necessary for booting.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:42 pm

Your comment should be taken considerably seriously.

Signed,

*Very Recent* Former Apple Embedded Circuit Hardware Engineer

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computerbandgeek said:

member since 09 Jun 2006 with 52 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:00 am

Guest wrote:
Your comment should be taken considerably seriously.

Signed,

*Very Recent* Former Apple Embedded Circuit Hardware Engineer

You think this is legit or pulling our leg?

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LaurieF said:

member since 15 Jun 2001 with 3547 posts, TMO Forum Mod, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:53 am

Until guests "enter and sign in, please", we treat them all with a grain of NaCl.

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Sir Harry Flashman said:

member since 08 Feb 2007 with 792 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:07 am

computerbandgeek wrote:
Guest wrote:
Your comment should be taken considerably seriously.

Signed,

*Very Recent* Former Apple Embedded Circuit Hardware Engineer

You think this is legit or pulling our leg?

A gruntled ex employee probably would not violate a NDA. Even someone who was asked to leave, fired if you will, would or should be very careful about talking about such things.

As for me I was just speculating, I haven't signed an Apple NDA since the late '80s

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