HTC Buys Controlling Share Of S3 GraphicsHTC Buys Controlling Share Of S3 Graphics

HTC Corporation will buy all outstanding shares in graphics card maker and gaming hardware provider company S3 Graphics from processor maker Via Corporation for $300 million, the companies announced today. Via acquired S3's graphics chip business back in 2000, paying $323 million for the company, which was a significant competitor to the likes of Nvidia and 3Dfx in the PC graphics accelerator market at the time. The company, which saw additional investment of $153 million in 2005, continues to produce PC graphics cards under the Chrome brand, which now represents roughly 10 percent of the market. Last year, Nintendo extended a licensing agreement with S3 that started in the GameCube era. The agreement lets Nintendo continue to use S3's texture compression technology, which reportedly achieves a six-fold size reduction with no loss in quality. "This agreement furthers our dedication to providing our game developers with leading compression technology to enable them to deliver the best possible gaming experience," said Nintendo Integrated Research and Development Division GM Genyo Takeda said at the time. "We look forward to continuing our licensing arrangement with S3 Graphics." Earlier this year, HTC invested $40 million in streaming gaming provider OnLive. The company also produces a line of Android-powered smartphones.