Intel's acquisition of Havok underscores high-end chip strategy

Intel's acquisition of Irish gaming tools developer Havok last week furthers the chip giant's current strategy of investing in and acquiring companies that bolster use of its high-end chips, writes Karlin Lillington.

For Havok, which creates game physics and special effects tools, the company will gain deeper pockets for investing in research and development, and the ability to expand more aggressively.

Havok developers will also be likely to get early access to Intel's latest high-end chips, allowing Havok to develop its own products to take advantage of their features. Games producers will be likely to design games that utilise the power of those top end chips as well.

"Havok is a proven leader in physics technology for gaming and digital content, and will become a key element of Intel's visual computing and graphics efforts," Renee James, Intel vice-president and general manager of its software and solutions group, said in a statement.

Gamers and the gaming industry are natural end-targets for a semiconductor company. Because of their complex graphics and gameplay, games benefit from being played on top-end hardware, which run the latest chips.

Intel will hope it will enable the group to pull both games developers and games players to its chips. Intel, like its competitors, has been focusing on companies and products that will drive use of its microprocessors.

Companies in the games area have already attracted leading Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices, which acquired video chip company ATI Technologies last year.

Havok, founded in 1998 by Trinity College Dublin computer science lecturers Steve Collins and Hugh Reynolds, has from its beginnings built a steady reputation with software that allows game designers, computer animators and film special effects artists to make virtual worlds seem more lifelike. Its software has been used in computer games and is being used by Linden Labs to visually enhance its popular online world Second Life.

Intel has said it will step back and allow Havok to operate in a "business as usual" approach.