E Ink Holdings, a company with a Cambridge history and some of the technology behind Amazon.com’s Kindle e-reader, said Friday it has agreed to buy 82.7 percent of the shares in SiPix Technology Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary SiPix Imaging Inc., a maker of electronic paper displays with facilities in California and Taiwan.

E Ink said its board has approved an amount of about $50 million to purchase up to 100 percent of SiPix’s shares. The exact amount of the purchase won’t be known until the transaction is completed.

The combined company will offer a vast portfolio of ePaper products that will allow it to expand its existing markets and diversify into newer applications, said Taiwan-based E Ink in a press release.

E Ink started as a spin-off from MIT’s Media Lab. In 2009, it was purchased by a Taiwanese display maker Prime View International. After the transaction closed, Prime View changed its name to E Ink Holdings. E Ink technology is used in many e-readers, including the Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook line. The company has roughly 250 employees in Massachusetts.