HTC Corp. agreed to purchase S3 Graphics Co. giving Asia’s second-largest smartphone maker access to patents as it defends against infringement lawsuits from Apple Inc.
HTC will pay $300 million cash for the Fremont, California-based provider of image-compression technology used in Nintendo Co.’s Wii and Sony Corp.’s PlayStation machines, Chief Financial Officer Winston Yung said in Taipei today. The sellers are VIA Technologies Inc., which has a 12.5 percent stake, and WTI Investment International Ltd., a holding company controlled by VIA and HTC’s Chairwoman Cher Wang.
