Google Buys Startup With Apple, TiVo Employees

Google's purchase of start-up company Agnilux may be related to the Android-based tablet and Google TV.

Tuesday Reuters (via peHUB) reported that Google's latest acquisition was Agnilux, a "stealth" chip start-up company located in San Jose, California. Although no specific details were provided in regards to the transaction, Agnilux comprises of former employees from both Apple and TiVo, both of which came from chip manufacturer P.A. Semi.

Apple acquired P.A. Semi back in 2008 for $278 million, and thus produced the current CPU (A4) used in the iPad. While many employees remained with Apple during the acquisition, others went on to secretly launch Agnilux using proceeds from the company's purchase. The New York Times believes that Agnilux may begin working on a server chip for Google.

"In between the no-comments and other assorted refusals, I peeked over at the Agnilux testing lab and saw very little," said Ashlee Vance of the New York Times back in February during a visit to the Agnilux facility. "But that same former PA Semi employee tells me that Agnilux is working on some kind of server, and that the company has a partnership in place with Cisco."

CNET speculates that Google may be taking advantage of the former TiVo employee and the chips produced by Agnilux, and applying those resources to its Google TV project. Based on Agnilux's prior experience, it's possible that the entire acquisition may result in hardware and software geared only for Google's tablet.