NXP Semiconductors is in talks to acquire California-based automotive chip designer Ambarella in a deal that could be worth more than 3 billion dollars, according to a Financial Times report. No agreement has been reached and the discussions could still end without a transaction. Neither company has commented on the reported talks.
The acquisition targets Ambarella’s AI-enabled image-processing chips for advanced driver assistance and autonomous driving systems. The firm’s edge AI processors run AI workloads locally in cameras and other devices, rather than relying on cloud computing.
Last week, NXP reported strong second-quarter results, with revenue reaching 3.5 billion dollars, up 19 percent year-over-year and 10 percent sequentially. CEO Rafael Sotomayor commented that these results were underpinned by AI moving from the cloud into the physical world, ie vehicles, factories and robots. Through the acquisition of Ambarella, NXP would expand on that trend.
