ARM buys lighting specialist Geomerics

Chip manufacturer ARM has acquired lighting specialist Geomerics for an undisclosed sum.

Geomerics’s lighting technology has been used in the likes of Battlefield 3 and 4, Need for Speed: Rivals and Eve Online.

As part of the deal, Geomerics will continue to trade and operate under its existing name as a wholly owned subsidiary of ARM.

There have been no staff dismissals and all of Geomerics’s current and ongoing commercial relationships will continue under the subsidiary.

“The innovative technologies being developed by Geomerics are already revolutionising the console gaming experience and are set to rapidly accelerate the transition to photorealistic graphics in mobile,” said Pete Hutton, executive VP and general manager of ARM’s Media Processing Division.

“Empowering Geomerics’ portfolio with ARM’s graphics capabilities and market reach will be transformative for the user experiences in future mobile and entertainment devices.”

ARM stand to benefit from the deal by expanding its position in the visual computing and graphics industries. While Geomerics said the deal will enable it to build on its existing partnerships as well as accelerate its development in mobile.

Dr Chris Doran, COO of Geomerics, added: “With lighting technologies developed by Geomerics, graphics artists can achieve truly realistic global illumination and other advanced lighting features in real time across multiple platforms today. This combination of ARM and Geomerics accelerates the realisation of our vision to bring next generation console graphics to mobile devices.

“Being part of ARM will allow us to accelerate our advanced developments for console and mobile platforms while also providing us with unmatched insights into the platforms and devices of tomorrow.”

You can read more about Geomerics and its Enlighten lighting technology here.