BitBoys Oy
Encyclopedia
Bitboys Oy
is a hardware development and licensing company based in Finland
, founded in 1991 and acquired by ATI Technologies
for up to US$44M on May 2, 2006. Until the acquisition, Bitboys had focused on mobile phone
gaming, and had developed a large vector graphics
-related portfolio.
Bitboys was formed out of the former famous demo underground subculture formation "Future Crew
" .
Bitboys became infamous after the 1999 announcement of their Glaze3D
series of graphics cards, which later turned out to be vaporware
. When Infineon Technologies shut down its embedded DRAM production line, Bitboys quickly transformed from PC desktop graphics chip business to mobile graphics IP business. They could not find another manufacturer capable of producing the part because of the high amount of embedded DRAM used.
After the merger of ATI
and AMD, the entire BitBoys Oy team was acquired by Qualcomm
on January 22, 2009 , following the sale of AMD Imageon
IP
to Qualcomm.
Osakeyhtiö
Osakeyhtiö, literally a "stock company", is the Finnish equivalent of a limited company or Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung . It is abbreviated to Oy and is used either before or after the company's name, sometimes with the addition of the Finland-Swedish equivalent Ab...
is a hardware development and licensing company based in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, founded in 1991 and acquired by ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...
for up to US$44M on May 2, 2006. Until the acquisition, Bitboys had focused on mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
gaming, and had developed a large vector graphics
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
-related portfolio.
Bitboys was formed out of the former famous demo underground subculture formation "Future Crew
Future Crew
Future Crew is a now-defunct Finnish demogroup who created PC demos and software, active mostly between 1992 and 1994.-History:The group was founded in 1986 by PSI as a Commodore 64 group, before moving to the PC demoscene in 1988; other members included, over time, Trug, Wildfire, Pixel, ICE,...
" .
Bitboys became infamous after the 1999 announcement of their Glaze3D
Glaze3D
Glaze3D was a family of graphics cards announced by BitBoys Oy on August 2, 1999 that would have produced substantially better performance than other consumer products available at the time...
series of graphics cards, which later turned out to be vaporware
Vaporware
Vaporware is a term in the computer industry that describes a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is never actually released nor officially canceled. Vaporware is also a term sometimes used to describe events that are announced or predicted,...
. When Infineon Technologies shut down its embedded DRAM production line, Bitboys quickly transformed from PC desktop graphics chip business to mobile graphics IP business. They could not find another manufacturer capable of producing the part because of the high amount of embedded DRAM used.
After the merger of ATI
Ati
As a word, Ati may refer to:* Ati, a town in Chad* Ati, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines* Ati-Atihan Festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines* Ati, a queen of the fabled Land of Punt in Africa...
and AMD, the entire BitBoys Oy team was acquired by Qualcomm
Qualcomm
Qualcomm is an American global telecommunication corporation that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its code division multiple access technology and other technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA...
on January 22, 2009 , following the sale of AMD Imageon
Imageon
The Imageon is a line of media processors developed by ATI providing graphics acceleration and other multimedia features for handheld devices such as mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants ....
IP
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
to Qualcomm.