13th December 2018 – (London, UK) – Imagination Technologies (‘Imagination’) a leading supplier of semiconductor intellectual property (IP), announces today that Dr. Ron Black is to become Chief Executive Officer.
Dr. Black is a veteran figure in the semiconductor and technology industry with over 25 years of experience, most recently as CEO of Rambus, and previously as CEO of UPEK and Wavecom. Earlier in his career he held leadership roles with Agere Systems, Gemplus, IBM, and Motorola. He has led companies both in the USA and Europe, and created strong partnerships and joint ventures in China.
During his six-year tenure as president and CEO of Rambus, Ron transformed the company making it a leading player in technology IP licensing, establishing a strong partnership footing for the company, and significantly increasing its revenue and profit, resulting in the share price increasing from ~$4 to ~$15 (USD).
Dr. Black replaces Dr. Leo Li, who this month steps down as both Imagination CEO and Chairman of the Global Semiconductor Alliance to establish an independent SoC (‘systems-on-chip’) company. This has been a long-term objective of Dr. Li’s and an opportunity has arisen for him to make this move in his career.
Imagination remains focused on creating and licensing a broad range of silicon intellectual property across the areas of graphics, AI/neural networks, and connectivity/Wi-Fi.
Ray Bingham, founding partner at Canyon Bridge Capital Partners Inc. and Executive Chairman, Imagination said:
“I have worked with Ron previously and have considerable respect for his leadership capabilities, technical understanding and strategic thinking.
“With over 25 years at the cutting edge of technology, and with a hugely successful track record in change management and creating value, Ron’s experience and vision for the future will enable him to lead Imagination, building on its strong strategy for delivering leading AI and GPU technologies.
“His appointment demonstrates our commitment to enabling Imagination to hire the best talent across its leadership, technical, commercial, and support teams, to create new technology, and to gain, serve, and retain customers worldwide.
“We thank Leo for all that he has done to lay firm foundations for the future and to build a strong management team at Imagination. This is a natural evolution for Leo and we hope that his new business will be a significant customer of ours in the future and we wish him every success.”
Dr. Ron Black, Chief Executive Officer, Imagination Technologies says:
“I have known the team at Imagination for several years and I am delighted that the opportunity has come to work with them.
“Imagination has put in place an exciting and ambitious strategy, both to capitalise on disruptions in key markets and territories, and to show why it has led for so many years in GPU. The value Imagination brings to our customers in GPU, AI, and connectivity is the basis of its position as a world leading independent IP supplier. I am going to ensure that both Imagination and its partners can reap the full potential of our ground-breaking IP.”
About Imagination Technologies
Imagination is a global technology leader whose products touch the lives of billions of people across the globe. The company’s broad range of silicon IP (intellectual property) includes the key processing blocks needed to create the SoCs (Systems on Chips) that power all mobile, consumer and embedded electronics. Its unique software IP, infrastructure technologies and system solutions enable its customers to get to market quickly with complete and highly differentiated SoC platforms. Imagination’s licensees include many of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers, network operators and OEMs/ODMs who are creating some of the world’s most iconic products. See: www.imaginationtech.com.
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Imagination, PowerVR and the Imagination Technologies logo are trademarks of Imagination Technologies Limited and/or its affiliated group companies in the United Kingdom and/or other countries.
Imagination Technologies was acquired in 2017 by Canyon Bridge, a California-headquartered, global private equity investment fund.
