Nvidia Buys ULi Electronics

NVIDIA Corporation, the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire ULi Electronics Inc. (ULi), one of the PC industry’s most highly-regarded core logic developers. Headquartered in Taipei, ULi also has offices in Hsinchu; Shanghai; Shenzhen; and San Jose, California.

ULi is recognized for its innovative core logic technology as well as other multimedia and embedded products. The acquisition represents NVIDIA’s ongoing investment in its platform solution strategy, which leverages the acclaimed NVIDIA nForce media and communications processors (MCPs) and NVIDIA GeForce and NVIDIA Quadro graphics processing units (GPUs). Additionally, the acquisition is expected to strengthen the Company’s sales, marketing, and customer engineering presence in Taiwan and China.

Under the terms of the agreement, NVIDIA will pay 19 New Taiwan Dollars in cash for each outstanding ULi share and stock option, for a total of approximately $52 million (USD). The acquisition, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of the Company’s fiscal year 2007, remains subject to the satisfaction of regulatory requirements and other customary closing conditions.

Alex Kuo, president and chief executive officer, ULi, will join NVIDIA as a senior executive responsible for MCP sales, marketing, and support functions in Asia. NVIDIA intends to supply ULi customers with current products for the foreseeable future.

Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer, NVIDIA, stated: "Alex and his team have built a company admired for creating innovative products in the core logic arena. The acquisition provides an opportunity for NVIDIA to leverage a very talented engineering team in order to expand our MCP initiatives while building closer relationships with customers in Asia."

"At ULi, we have always believed that the opportunities in the MCP space are tremendous," added Mr. Kuo. "The strength of the NVIDIA world-class engineering and marketing organizations will enable the ULi team to take product design and development to the next level."

NVIDIA is the largest AMD core logic supplier in the world (Source: Mercury Research, Third Quarter 2005 PC CPU Report). NVIDIA nForce MCP revenue has increased 100 percent year-over-year and has achieved record revenue for five consecutive quarters.