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Thursday, October 19, 2017

Invisage Acquired by Apple?

Reportedly, there is some sort of acquisition deal reached between Invisage and Apple. A part of Invisage employees joined Apple. Another part is looking for jobs, apparently. While the deal has never been officially announced, I got unofficial confirmations of it from 3 independent sources.

Update: According to 2 sources, the deal was closed in July this year.

Somewhat old Invisage Youtube videos are still available and show the company's visible-light technology, although Invisage worked on IR sensing in more recent years:



Update #2: There are few more indications that Invisage has been acquired. Nokia Growth Partners (NGP) that participated the 2014 investing round shows Invisage in its exits list:


InterWest Partners too invested in 2014 and now lists Invisage among its non-current investments:

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8 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 20, 2017 at 2:22 PM

    Curious about why no product equipped with their sensor until now? Too expensive or any flaw undisclosed?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownOctober 20, 2017 at 4:36 PM

      It takes a tremendous amount of effort to bring a technology outside the lab into mass production.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousOctober 27, 2017 at 11:31 PM

      They released a short film in 2015 shot with their sensors (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbShbMRudUM) and I distinctly remember how terrible it looked.

      Delete
  2. Eric R FossumOctober 20, 2017 at 3:43 PM

    If true, perhaps the NIR capability of the sensor may be used in a future Apple Product (iphone X??). Invisage was teamed with TSMC so high volume production is possible. All in all though, there are a many unanswered questions at this time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 21, 2017 at 2:44 AM

    TSMC can support CMOS and color filter, but I do not think they can not support sensing layer .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousOctober 21, 2017 at 10:57 AM

      The material is provided by Invisage, but Si part is done by TSMC.

      Delete
  4. AnonymousOctober 28, 2017 at 8:47 AM

    This story has been confirmed to me as true (from a source in the know). I'm pretty certain Eric's assumption is correct.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownOctober 31, 2017 at 3:01 PM

      So, it is pretty sure that iphone x didn't use image sensor form Invisage and TSMC, right?
      maybe next iphone?

      Delete

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