Graphics technology developer 3Dfx Interactive announced its acquisition of STB Systems, a Richardson, Texas, graphics board manufacturer, in a $141 million stock swap expected to be completed by March 1999.

3Dfx headquarters are in San Jose, California, and the company will maintain STB's Texas offices.

3Dfx will now be able to sell branded add-in boards to retail customers and PC vendors. The merged firm will more directly face rivals such as Diamond Multimedia Systems and Creative Labs. 3Dfx expects to withhold its Voodoo3 chip from those companies and instead sell the chip in its own boards.

"This shift in our business model allows [us] to control our own destiny," said Greg Ballard, president and chief executive officer of 3Dfx, in a prepared statement.

"We believe that the combined strengths of STB and 3Dfx will enable us to deliver a more powerful and focused brand strategy and singular vision for our products and customers," said William Ogle, STB's president. Ogle will join the 3Dfx board as vice chair and executive vice president.

STB posted a fourth-quarter loss of $5.9 million last week.