Arm to Dip its Fingers into Discrete GPU Game, Plans on Competing with Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA

[AleksandarK]

According to a recent report from Globes, Arm, the chip design giant and maker of the Arm ISA, is reportedly developing a new discrete GPU at its Ra'anana development center in Israel. This development signals Arm's intention to compete directly with industry leaders like Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA in the massive discrete GPU market. Sources close to the matter reveal that Arm has assembled a team of approximately 100 skilled chip and software development engineers at its Israeli facility. The team is focused on creating GPUs primarily aimed at the video game market. However, industry insiders speculate that this technology could potentially be adapted for AI processing in the future, mirroring the trajectory of NVIDIA, which slowly integrated AI hardware accelerators into its lineup.

The Israeli development center is playing a crucial role in this initiative. The hardware teams are overseeing the development of key components for these GPUs, including the flagship Immortalis and Mali GPU. Meanwhile, the software teams are creating interfaces for external graphics engine developers, working with both established game developers and startups. Arm is already entering the PC market through its partners like Qualcomm with Snapdragon X chips. However, these chips run an integrated GPU, and Arm wants to provide discrete GPUs and compete there. While details are still scarce, Arm could make GPUs to accompany Arm-based Copilot+ PCs and some desktop builds. The final execution plan still needs to be discovered, and we are still waiting to see which stage Arm's discrete GPU project is in.



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[Zazigalka]

The Israeli development center is playing a crucial role in this initiative.

hope it doesn't bomb.

 

[Chaitanya]

As long as they dont make drivers from swiss cheese.

 

[eidairaman1]

I think PowerVR should Re-enter this market.

 

[Ferrum Master]

We had one example with More threads and Imagination licensing... it turned out pretty ugly...

Not sure you can jump in so simply, even Intel struggled, to be fair Intel struggles with everything lately tho... except for boasting ego.

I think PowerVR should Re-enter this market.

It did with More Threads indirectly.

 

[eidairaman1]

We had one example with More threads and Imagination licensing... it turned out pretty ugly...

Not sure you can jump in so simply, even Intel struggled, to be fair Intel struggles with everything lately tho... except for boasting ego.



It did with More Threads indirectly.

Power vr left the dgpu space after kyro to go on mobile phones as imagination technologies last i recall

 

[AusWolf]

If they intend to compete with Intel on the discrete GPU market... well, ehm... Good luck, I guess?

 

[FoulOnWhite]

Well another player in the discrete GPU market cant hurt, and might make prices a little better if ARM actually has something to compete.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Power vr left the dgpu space after kyro to go on mobile phones as imagination technologies last i recall

That China More Threads GPU is licensed Imagination technology Rogue arch on steroids... You can bake the hardware, but drivers.... good luck with that.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I guess the first generation will be as powerful as those xina made PowerVR cards that were supposed to be competitive...

 

[Zubasa]

As long as they dont make drivers from swiss cheese.

They can make it out of Blue Cheese or Casu Martzu intead.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I think PowerVR should Re-enter this market.

They already did.

Power vr left the dgpu space after kyro to go on mobile phones as imagination technologies last i recall

The company is Imagination, their GPU is PowerVR and they're back offering designs that can be used as discrete GPUs.

 

[Bwaze]

'The team is focused on creating GPUs primarily aimed at the video game market. However, industry insiders speculate that this technology could potentially be adapted for AI processing in the future, mirroring the trajectory of NVIDIA, which slowly integrated AI hardware accelerators into its lineup."

I'm pretty sure the main focus is AI acceleration hardware for servers, that's where the money is, or at least was - but that's not really marketable right now with quite a bit of backlash, AI supposedly not really bringing in the money thy invested into it...

So if AI remains in this kind of state I wouldn't be surprised if they suddenly cancel the whole project.

 

[Tomorrow]

I agree with those who said that anyone can make GPU hardware, but making working drivers is much, much harder. Even with prior iGPU drivers under their belt it's largely useless as it was with Intel. Even launching essentially a early test vehicle card for developers (DG1, people mistakenly call DG2 first generation).
Here are two videos. One from LTT shortly after Arch launch testing games live stream viewers requested and another from HUB a month ago testing 250 games.

The improvement over time is noticeable, but it took a lot of work from the driver team and many man-hours.
If ARM really decides to go discrete GPU route, especially for consumers and gaming (not just enterprise) then they better start making drivers as soon as possible.

 

[watzupken]

If ARM wants to compete on the PC space, I don’t think they have a choice here. The Snapdragon GPU may be one of the best in the Android space, but failed to make a progress on Windows. ARM’s GPU is not going to do any better.

 

[R0H1T]

dGPU on Windows or any "PC" is a dead man walking, unless you have fake frames & RTX no one's willing to pay $2k for these parts! The way you're meant to be played

They (ARM designs) should much rather focus on a high end SoC, like a Strix Halo or Apple Mxx alternatives!

 

[Daven]

This has more promise for a third competitor than Intel. I hope ARM goes through with it.

 

[Bwaze]

This has more promise for a third competitor than Intel. I hope ARM goes through with it.

It doesn't say they're planning discreet GPUs for PCs, though...

 

[The Quim Reaper]

The company is Imagination, their GPU is PowerVR and they're back offering designs that can be used as discrete GPUs.

Who were the subject of some pretty nasty tactics by Nvidia back in the day to get developers to code for their rendering paths over PowerVR GPUs.

 

[Onasi]

dGPU on Windows or any "PC" is a dead man walking, unless you have fake frames & RTX no one's willing to pay $2k for these parts! The way you're meant to be played

The vast, vast majority of dGPU market in the DIY PC market shops in the 200-400 dollar range. I have no idea what 2000 bucks GPUs have to do with anything, but any player who wants to be anything worthwhile would have to make some decent options in the mainstream range. That was even the original reasoning for A750/770 positioning. Halo SKUs are nice to have for the company, but they aren’t the volume market.

 

[Daven]

It doesn't say they're planning discreet GPUs for PCs, though...

The article states…

“…is reportedly developing a new discrete GPU at its Ra'anana development center in Israel.”

“The team is focused on creating GPUs primarily aimed at the video game market.”

What market other than the PC uses discrete GPUs for video games?

 

[R0H1T]

$200~400 range cards are not gonna pay your bills for the next gen uarch R&D, this is where AMD was at least partially smart in having to sell/make more server CPU's than say consumer/server GPU's although the AI boom caught them flat footed.

The vast, vast majority of dGPU market in the DIY PC market shops in the 200-400 dollar range. I have no idea what 2000 bucks GPUs have to do with anything, but any player who wants to be anything worthwhile would have to make some decent options in the mainstream range. That was even the original reasoning for A750/770 positioning. Halo SKUs are nice to have for the company, but they aren’t the volume market.

And so unless you are Nvidia DIY space is not for you, in fact stay away from PC (graphics) completely!

 

[Bwaze]

The article states…

“…is reportedly developing a new discrete GPU at its Ra'anana development center in Israel.”

“The team is focused on creating GPUs primarily aimed at the video game market.”

What market other than the PC uses discrete GPUs for video games?

Ok, a bad statement. Article says:

"Arm is already entering the PC market through its partners like Qualcomm with Snapdragon X chips. However, these chips run an integrated GPU, and Arm wants to provide discrete GPUs and compete there. While details are still scarce, Arm could make GPUs to accompany Arm-based Copilot+ PCs and some desktop builds. "

What I meant to say is it's not clear ARM is entering x86 PC market. True, there aren't any uses for discrete gaming GPUs outside x86 PCs. Yet.

 

[Paganstomp]

Putting more stress on the RAM market. IMO.

 

[Onasi]

$200~400 range cards are not gonna pay your bills for the next gen uarch R&D, this is where AMD was at least partially smart in having to sell/make more server CPU's than say consumer/server GPU's although the AI boom caught them flat footed.

…so how exactly do you think things worked before we started getting 1500 bucks halo cards? You do realize there is such a thing as “volume sales”, right? Sure, enterprise contracts are important, especially nowadays, but desktop users are a reliable audience that isn’t really dependent on trends and booms. That’s the reason why NV still actually makes desktop cards and hasn’t went all in on the datacenter and HPC.

And so unless you are Nvidia DIY space is not for you, in fact stay away from PC (graphics) completely!

Yeah, no. If NV actually, literally was the only player left they would absolutely be hit by an anti-trust. But I have the feeling that this is a rather un-elaborate trolling attempt, so hey, knock yourself out.