Apple triples its share in mobile graphics chip designer

At the end of 2008, we found out through a company filing with the London Stock Exchange that Apple had owned  8.2 million shares of Imagination Technologies.  That’s roughly equivalent to a 3.6 percent stake in the company.  According to Bloomberg, Apple has been buying up shares over the past year and, with a recent 2.2 million share purchase, now has a 9.5% stake in the company. 

Imagination develops intelectual property behind PowerVR portable graphics engines that go into high end mobile devices like the iPhone and iPod touch.  Interestingly, Palm’s Pre and some other higher-end smart phones use Imagination Technologies’ chip designs as well.

Imagination Technologies fell 6.75 pence, or 4.7 percent, to 136 pence at 11:28 a.m. in London after earlier rising 3.7 percent. The stock has risen 118 percent this year, giving the company a market value of 311 million pounds.