Deal Strengthens Samsung’s Leadership Position in Display Technology
CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Electronics today announces the acquisition of IP assets of Clairvoyante Inc., an IP licensing company responsible for the development of PenTile™ subpixel rendering display technology and associated gamut mapping algorithms. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Samsung Electronics is an industry-leading provider of LCDs for mobile, notebook, monitor and TV applications. It is also a provider of peripheral electronics for supporting displays and of finished goods that utilize display modules. Clairvoyante’s PenTile technology offers a significant reduction in power consumption for high-resolution mobile LCDs and for extending the lifetime of high-resolution mobile OLED displays.
“Samsung recognized the potential of Clairvoyante’s PenTile technology to improve display performance more than seven years ago when we became the first company to license the IP,” said Dr. Seung-Ho Ahn, vice president, External Affairs & IP Group at Samsung Electronics. “This new business relationship will afford us the opportunity to guide this technology in support of a wide range of markets and applications.”
“The acquisition of Clairvoyante’s IP assets by Samsung ensures the long term development of PenTile technology to support growing demand for high resolution devices,” said Joel Pollack, CEO of Clairvoyante, Inc. “The transaction also validates the ability of PenTile technology to enable best-in-class displays with greater performance and functionality for emerging designs.”
After the acquisition of IP assets, Clairvoyante will be dissolved. A new entity, Nouvoyance, has been formed. It will be led by Candice Brown Elliott, a founder of Clairvoyante, and staffed with the Clairvoyante engineers. Together with Samsung, Nouvoyance will carry forward the future development of PenTile technology. “We are pleased that Nouvoyance will be able to continue display technology development to realize the dreams of low-power, high-resolution display applications,” said Ms. Elliott, CEO of Nouvoyance.
About Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2007 consolidated sales of US$103.4 billion. Employing approximately 150,000 people in 134 offices in 62 countries, the company consists of five main business units: Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business, Telecommunication Business and Digital Appliance Business. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.
