Apple has bought a 3.6% shareholding stake in UK-based graphic chip developer Imagination Technologies.
Apple has been steadily increasing its technology links with Imagination over the last 12 months resulting in a full technology licence for its PowerVR 3D graphics accelerator.
Today Apple confirmed those ties by taking the 3.6% stake which is valued at around $5m.
In September, Kings Langley-based Imagination concluded a multi-year, multi-use license agreement with Apple which gives the consumer giant access to both current and future PowerVR graphics and video IP cores.
Interestingly, another of Imagination’s high-profile licensees is Intel. Intel's Centrino Atom processor chipset, which was announced earlier this year, includes graphics and video processors from Imagination Technologies.