ATI buys cable modem firm

CANADIAN FIRM ATI said that it will pay $14 million dollars to acquire Terayon's cable model silicon intellectual property.

It will also get an extra 25 staff from Terayon.

The reason for the acquisition said ATI, was to extend its product and technology range for next generation digital TVs.

ATI said that digital cable ready HDTV in North America will allow sets to be connected to cable with a separate set top box.

The firm said that it is already the leading supplier of silicon in HDTVs, and shipped five million chips in 2004 to a number of th ebig players including Sharp, Philips, and Panasonic. The Theater and NXT demodulators have 85 per cent market share, ATI said.

Terayon has shipped over three million TJ700X cable modems worldwide for high speed net access, online gaming, and other broadband services.