ATI Technologies Inc. has signed an agreement to purchase NxtWave Communications Inc. for $20 million.
NxtWave makes broadband receiver technologies using proprietary digital signal processing technologies adapted for applications in digital terrestrial and cable receivers. The Langhonre, Penn.-based chipmaker has been at the forefront of developing improved, next-generation decoders for VSB.
The acquisition will widen ATI's set-top box product portfolio to include demodulation technology in front-end communications. The technology will be combined with ATI's back-end XILLEON set-top chipsets. XILLEON integrates a high-speed MIPS CPU, graphics, video and other I/O capabilities.
ATI will gain approximately 55 new employees, with 50 engineers, after the deal, which is expected to close later this month.
