Apple strikes new deal with UK chipmaker it sidelined in 2017

Los Angeles: UK chip designer Imagination Technologies Group Plc said it’s struck a new license agreement with Apple Inc., reviving a business relationship that had all but ended in recent years.

The company, which was sold to Chinese buyout firm Canyon Bridge Capital Partners for 500 million pounds ($663 million) in September 2017, said Thursday it “formed a new multi-year license agreement under which Apple has access to a wider range of Imagination’s intellectual property in exchange for license fees.”

Apple previously used graphics chips or GPUs in its iPhones and iPads that were designed by Imagination Technologies, but it moved to its own internal chip designs starting with the iPhone X in 2017 and the iPad Pro in 2018.