Apple sets up home 8 miles from UK rival
APPLE has launched an attack on iPhone chip maker Imagination Technologies by opening a new office close to its headquarters.
The move is the latest twist in the saga involving the two firms, which have been locked in a bitter war of words after Apple told Imagination it would no longer use its graphics chip technology in iPhones and iPads.
The Silicon Valley giant is reportedly renting a 22,500 square foot office in the centre of St Albans to work on creating its own graphic chips – three months after announcing plans to wind down its relationship with the British tech firm.
The new base is just 8 miles down the road of Imagination’s headquarters in Kings Langley and has sparked fears the tech firm is looking to poach more staff.
Apple has already hired a string of Imagination employees – including its former chief operating officer John Metcalfe and currently advertises more than a dozen job postings for experts in graphics hardware in the region.
Imagination, once Britain’s most valuable tech company, put itself up for sale last month after seeing £500m wiped off its value in just one day when it announced the termination of the Apple contract.
It has designed graphic chips for the iPhone since the product’s launch in 2007 and potential bidders for the firm include Intel, Qualcomm and ARM Holdings.
The company has been seeking a divorce payout from Apple, which it relies on for about half of its revenues, and says proceedings are still active. It has also accused Apple of breaching its own ethics after challenging the firm’s claim that it will be able to design its own chips without paying for access to the British company’s intellectual property. Last week Imagination chief executive Andrew Heath said Apple’s claims that the iPhone maker would no longer need to pay royalties were ‘ unsubstantiated’ adding: ‘We do not believe this to be acceptable business practice nor in line with Apple’s own ethics statements regarding suppliers.’ He also claimed the episode had unsettled staff.
Apple on the other hand has denied catching Imagination off guard, saying the company has known for years that it is winding down the relationship.
It said: ‘We stopped accepting new intellectual property from them in 2015. We valued our past relationship and wanted to give them as much notice as possible to adapt their future plans. We’re disappointed in their response, which has been inaccurate and misleading.’