For everyone begging Apple to do an acquisition, we have some good news: It looks like it is!
According to Nikkei, Apple is in talks to buy a controlling stake in Renesas SP Drivers, a joint venture between Japanese electronics company Renesas, and Sharp and Taiwan company Powerchip.
Renesas owns 55% of Renesas SP Drivers, and Apple is reportedly negotiating buying that stake for $479 million. Presumably, it would buy the rest of the company from the other partners, too.
Nikkei says, "Renesas SP is the world's leading producer of drivers and controllers for small and midsize LCDs, with a market share of around one-third. These chips determine a display's quality and performance as well as a phone's overall energy efficiency — they are said to account for around 10% of battery usage."
Renesas is racking up losses, and seems like it wants to sell this group because it needs cash.
This is a classic Apple acquisition. It's paying a low price for a key component that it can control. It's not a big splashy, Whatsapp-style acquisition, but that's not surprising. That's just not what Apple does.