Imagination rumours on Apple Ipad2 chips may be interesting opportunity

I bought into the chip licenser, Imagination technology (IMG),  this morning after reading a lot of specification rumours relating to Apple's forthcoming Ipad2 and IPhone 5 over the weekend. It looks likely that Imagination chips will be in the new devices, with shipment in Q2 2011. For example:

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/16/ipad-2-to-sport-a-dual-core-gpu/

"With the rumors of a 2048x1536 high resolution screen for the iPad 2, one question that has emerged is what graphics processing unit (GPU) can adequately power the device. AppleInsider claims that the new iPad (and iPhone 5) will use a dual-core SGX543 GPU from Imagination Technologies.
A source familiar with Apple's graphics strategy says the company will not only be upgrading its video core, but also going to multiple cores, a feature that is designed into the SGX543 design. The most likely configuration of Apple's next custom chip is reportedly the SGX543MP2, which pairs two SGX543 cores to work as one, offering around four times the capability of the previous A4 in graphics and video tasks.

We had previously revealed that the latest iOS 4.3 beta SDK had drivers for the new SGX543 GPU, so it should be no surprise that it is the most likely contender to be the next GPU for the iPad. Meanwhile, when it was first announced it was billed as a very capable multi-core chip:
In other words, the SGX543 can have any number of cores from two to sixteen with no change in the driver software or the application. All that complex data/pipeline/thread management is done in hardware. No muss, no fuss.

If Apple indeed is pursuing a very high resolution screen for their iPad 2, it makes sense that they will also have to comparable upgrade the underlying horsepower of the device. Meanwhile, another rumor had pegged Apple's new A5 CPU to also be a multi-core chip."

Trading on a forward price/earnings (P/E) for April 2012 of 34, IMG is not especially cheap but if the rumours of further Apple deals are true then revenues should come a lot higher than the £127 million pencilled in for 2011/2012.

Winter depression eased by Sirius & York Potash deal

I was reading yesterday that scientifically today is the most depressing day of the year. With the rain pounding down today, I agree with them! But fortunately a couple of good RNS's from Sirius Minerals (sxx) raised the spirits somewhat this morning!

The company announced today that it had agreed to buy York Potash Ltd., which owns mineral rights covering roughly 600 sq km of land in the north east of England for £25 million in shares.

The area in Yorkshire has been producing potash since 1973 and it has been estimated it could contain between 3.3 billion and 6 billion metric tons of polyhalite, a key source of potash, "While the York potash project is still at the early stages of exploration and assessment, the directors believe the potential of the project is significant,"

York Potash's founder Chris Fraser has been appointed as the new chief executive.

With a bit of luck rather than judgement I bought in on Friday with the North Dakota salts story beginning to unfold. So the news today is a welcome and positive surprise. Sirius is currently up 9 percent at around 18p.