Imagination Technologies has appointed Markus Mosen as CEO, just as a long-running legal dispute with former Chief Executive Ron Black has been resolved. With litigation closed for a fraction of the original £200 million claim and the balance sheet no longer carrying that uncertainty, the company looks structurally cleaner at a time when GPU IP is strategically scarce. The obvious question: Why hasn’t someone bought it already?
(Source: Wikipedia Commons)
Imagination Technologies has appointed Markus Mosen as chief executive officer, marking another leadership transition at one of the UK’s most strategically important semiconductor IP firms.
Alongside the CEO change, Imagination has now closed its long-running court dispute with former CEO Ron Black. Black had reportedly sought approximately £200 million (US ~$272.5 million) in damages. We understand the final settlement to be in the low single-digit millions—under 1% of the original claim. It removes a significant legal overhang that may have complicated due diligence conversations.
Mosen is a seasoned semiconductor executive. Prior to joining Imagination Technologies, he built and led WeEn Semiconductors—a bipolar power technology start-up—into a recognized player and previously held senior leadership roles at NXP Semiconductors and Infineon Technologies in the Asia-Pacific region. Mosen’s experience in China will be essential for Imagination, which remains widely exposed to the market, selling both EV and desktop GPU IP there.
Table 1. Imagination CEOs.
Imagination remains one of the very few independent GPU IP providers globally. Its PowerVR architecture has long-standing positions in automotive, embedded, and selected mobile markets. The company has also expanded into AI acceleration, broadening its relevance beyond traditional graphics.
Meanwhile, the industry has moved decisively toward vertical integration. GlobalFoundries’ acquisition of MIPS illustrates the shift to foundry as platform owner. Control of CPU IP is now seen as strategically complementary to process technology. GPU IP sits logically adjacent to that move.
Heterogeneous compute is no longer optional. AI inference, automotive cockpits, digital twins, industrial robotics—these workloads blend CPU, GPU, NPU, and domain-specific accelerators. Owning the stack reduces dependency risk and improves margin capture.
Having abandoned IPO plans in 2023, Imagination has effectively been in play as an M&A target since. In most cycles, an asset with strategic GPU IP would not remain independent that long.
The most plausible explanation for why Imagination has not sold is structural complexity and target valuation. The company is owned by Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, whose Chinese LP adds geopolitical sensitivity. Imagination also maintains meaningful exposure to the China market. In the current regulatory environment, GPU IP is regarded as strategic infrastructure. For a US or European acquirer, regulatory review would be inevitable. For an Asian buyer, the calculus may be different.
Add to that a live £200 million (US ~$272.5 million) legal claim hanging over the company until recently, and it is not hard to see why buyers might have hesitated. With the litigation now settled at what appears to be a negligible fraction of the claim, that friction point disappears.
The buyer landscape includes:
The logic has strengthened as AI workloads permeate embedded and automotive systems, and it may be that Imagination has held off on a sale to achieve maximum value. Seeking to time that in this age of AI-bubble talk is certainly risky, but Imagination Chairman Ray Bingham is, in our experience, a patient man.
What do we think?
A £200 million claim creates uncertainty in any acquisition model. Buyers discount risk aggressively. Settling for what appears to be <1% of the original demand sends a stabilizing signal.
Combined with the CEO appointment, Imagination now looks operationally steadier, though the run rate through CEOs is still exceptional. We could only think of WeWork, Twitter/X, and OpenAI as having comparably complex recent histories with CEOs.
The semiconductor industry is consolidating around IP ownership. Foundries are buying CPU vendors. AI start-ups are vertically integrating. Independent GPU IP assets are rare (and notably, Imagination’s is the only one open to the growing RISC-V market).
We continue to see multiple strategic fits for Imagination at a multibillion-dollar valuation.
The absence of a deal likely reflects deal complexity more than strategic ambiguity. Chinese-linked ownership and China revenue exposure complicate transactions. But complexity is a problem to solve, not a full stop. With litigation closed and leadership stabilized, the company appears more transaction-ready than it has in some time.
We quite like the look of their most recent GPU IP too.
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