Kingston To Sell HyperX to HP
A big move for one of the largest gaming peripheral companies
Yesterday, Kingston Technology announced that they’ve agreed to sell their HyperX division to HP.
When I first saw this, I was surprised. Kingston built the HyperX brand from the ground-up over the last 18 years, and also changed the way modern gaming headsets were designed. The HyperX Cloud combined a popular headphone, the Takstar Pro 80, with a microphone. It was the brainchild of a company called Qpad originally, but HyperX licensed that concept and then ran with it.
They expanded and iterated on that concept across several generations of excellent products, and created many new in-house designs, including the exemplary Cloud II Wireless that just launched last year. They recently set sales records in the PC space, and they’re a popular choice for console gamers as well.
This $425 million dollar deal greatly bolsters HP’s gaming hardware profile. They’ve made a couple of headsets and mice in the past, but in the gaming market HP is mostly known for their OMEN prebuilt lineup of desktop PC’s and laptops.
As of right now, there are no apparent plans for any big shakeups behind-the-scenes. I’ll be interested to see if HP integrates some of HyperX’s design language into their computers, or if the “frostcap” cooling technology from the Omen Mindframe headset comes to a HyperX product. Beyond that, I can’t really imagine what they’ll do and we’ll just have to wait and see.
The press release I was sent about the sale follows this line.
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Kingston Technology to Sell HyperX Gaming Division to HP Inc.
Fountain Valley, Calif. — February 24, 2021 — Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced a definitive agreement to sell HyperX, its gaming division to HP Inc. The acquisition supports HP’s strategy to drive growth in its Personal Systems business, where gaming and peripherals are attractive segments. HyperX’s award-winning product portfolio spans a range of gaming peripherals, including headsets, keyboards, mice, mouse pads, USB microphones, and console accessories.
“HyperX is a leader in peripherals whose technology is trusted by gamers around the world and we’re thrilled to welcome their outstanding team to the HP family,” said Enrique Lores, President and CEO, HP Inc. “We continue to advance our leadership in Personal Systems by modernizing compute experiences and expanding into valuable adjacencies. We see significant opportunities in the large and growing peripherals market, and the addition of HyperX to our portfolio will drive new sources of innovation and growth for our business.”
PC gaming continues to be one of the most popular forms of video gaming, with the PC hardware industry anticipated to be worth $70 billion by 2023.[i] The global peripherals market is expected to grow to $12.2 billion by 2024, with gaming peripherals representing a disproportionate share of this growth.
“HyperX products are designed to meet the most rigorous demands of all gamers — from casual to the most hardcore — giving them a winning edge and helping them stay on top of their game,” said John Tu, Co-founder and CEO, Kingston. “Both of our companies thrive because we focus on our employees and share the same core values and culture. David Sun (Co-founder and COO) and I saw the possibilities for the HyperX business and its employees and we both realized that this change brings a brighter future for HyperX.”
HP has built a large and growing global gaming portfolio in recent years, led by its OMEN brand and a world-class ecosystem of hardware, software, content, and services. The company continues to push progression in gaming with powerful devices like the OMEN 15 gaming laptop and the HP Pavilion Gaming 16 laptop. Beyond devices, HP is driving software innovation with OMEN Gaming Hub, a destination for players to connect, customize, and explore their gear and games. Adding HyperX to HP’s broader gaming ecosystem will deliver innovative new experiences across everything gamers see, hear, and touch.
Under the terms of the agreement, HP will pay $425M, subject to customary working capital and other adjustments, to acquire HyperX’s gaming peripherals portfolio. Kingston will retain the DRAM, flash, and SSD products for gamers and enthusiasts. The acquisition is expected to be accretive on a non-GAAP basis to HP in the first full year following closing. The transaction is expected to close in calendar Q2 2021, pending regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.
Kingston can be found on: HyperX can be found on:
About Kingston Technology Company, Inc.
From big data, to laptops and PCs, to IoT-based devices like smart and wearable technology, to design-in and contract manufacturing, Kingston helps deliver the solutions used to live, work and play. The world’s largest PC makers and cloud-hosting companies depend on Kingston for their manufacturing needs, and our passion fuels the technology the world uses every day. We strive beyond our products to see the bigger picture, to meet the needs of our customers and offer solutions that make a difference. To learn more about how Kingston Is With You, visit Kingston.com.
About HyperX
For 18 years, HyperX’s mission has been to develop gaming solutions for every type of gamer and the company is consistently recognized for delivering products that provide superior comfort, aesthetics, performance, and reliability. Under the tagline of “WE’RE ALL GAMERS,” HyperX gaming headsets, keyboards, mice, USB microphones, and console accessories are the choice of everyday gamers as well as celebrity ambassadors, pro gamers, tech enthusiasts, and overclockers worldwide because they meet the most stringent product specifications and are built with best-in-class components.
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Kingston, the Kingston logo, HyperX and the HyperX logo are registered trademarks of Kingston Technology Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. IronKey is a registered trademark of Kingston Digital, Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
[i] Sources: VGA24/7, DFCint, NewZoo, Steam — https://www.wepc.com/statistics/pc-gaming/
