Imagination Technologies has found itself in a financial tug-of-war as Apple moves to increase its shareholding in the UK-based graphics processor developer.
It is only a week since Intel raised takeover speculation when it took a 14% stakeholding in Imagination. At the time it was thought that Apple's 3.6% shareholding in the graphics company would turn any takeover move by Intel in to a bidding battle.
Now Apple has raised the stakes by increasing its shareholding in Imagination to 9.5%.
Apple took its first 3.6% shareholding stake in Imagination Technologies last December and it followed a period when Apple had been steadily increasing its technology links with the King's Langley-based developer of the PowerVR SGX graphics processor.
See: Intel will have a battle if it bids to buy Imagination Technologies
Last September, 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.
Now Imagination’s other high-profile licensee, Intel is integrating the PowerVR SGX core into its latest Atom processor-based chips which are crucial for its assault on the mobile phone market.
The importance of Imagination to Intel was highlighted by this week's deal with Nokia to create a mobile computing platform to rival the Apple iPhone.
It now seems possible that Imagination could soon find itself at the centre of a technology tug-of-war between Intel and Apple.