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ARM announced its acquisition of Falanx Microsystems AS, a Norwegian graphics intellectual-property company based in Trondheim, on June 23, 2006. Arm later traced the origins of its Mali graphics technology to the Falanx team.
What company did ARM acquire?
Falanx Microsystems AS was a privately owned graphics IP company headquartered in Trondheim, Norway. ARM’s June 23, 2006 announcement described the acquisition as a way to strengthen its 3D graphics portfolio. It reported Falanx’s net assets as NOK 2 million, a figure that is not the purchase price. ARM’s contemporaneous announcement, carried by WebWire, does not establish the acquisition price.
How did Falanx lead to Mali graphics?
Falanx developed graphics technology before joining ARM. In a 2016 retrospective, Arm said the Falanx team in Trondheim created Mali before the company became part of Arm, describing the acquisition as the point when “ARM Mali was born.” The history of the team reaches back to 1998, when, according to that retrospective, students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology shifted from experimenting with CPUs to graphics.
Arm’s account connects the acquisition to Mali’s origins; it does not mean that Falanx was itself a GPU product or that every later Mali design was developed solely by the original team. Arm’s 2016 Mali anniversary retrospective provides its account of that lineage.
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What became of Arm’s Norwegian presence?
Arm says the Falanx acquisition marked the start of its presence in Norway. In a May 17, 2023 update, it described ongoing graphics engineering in Trondheim and plans for a graphics-focused Oslo site. Arm reported that its Trondheim office had more than 200 employees at that time; this is a 2023 figure, not a current headcount. Arm’s 2023 engineering expansion announcement describes that later footprint.
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Acquisition timeline
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1998 | Arm’s retrospective traces the beginnings of the Falanx team to students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology who turned from CPU experiments to graphics. |
| June 23, 2006 | ARM announced its acquisition of Falanx Microsystems AS. |
| June 17, 2016 | Arm published a retrospective linking the Falanx team and acquisition to Mali’s origins. |
| May 17, 2023 | Arm described its Norwegian engineering presence and plans for an Oslo site. |
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