Nvidia to license graphics technology for greater smartphone and tablet presence

Nvidia moves to mobile markets as PC sales decline

GPU and ARM chip maker Nvidia plans to license its graphics technology to other chip firms, a move that could see it adopted more widely in mobile devices but which will set it in direct competition with other mobile graphics specialists.

In a posting on Nvidia's blog, the firm stated that PC sales are declining, while smartphones and tablets are on the rise. Nvidia's traditional business has been in selling standalone GPU products for computers, but the company said it is not practical to build silicon to address every part of the expanding market, so a new approach involving working with partners is required.

Nvidia executive vice president David Shannon, wrote: "Our next step is to license our GPU cores and visual computing patent portfolio to device manufacturers to serve the needs of a large piece of the market."

Nvidia will start by licensing its GPU core based on the Kepler architecture, which forms the basis for current GeForce, Quadro and Tesla GPUs as well as the next-generation Tegra mobile processor codenamed Logan, Nvidia said.

Licensees will gain access to designs, collateral and support necessary to integrate Nvidia's graphics cores into their devices, but the firm said it is also prepared to license its intellectual property, enabling licensees to develop their own GPU functionality.

Nvidia's graphics technology is already integrated into its own ARM-based Tegra system-on-a-chip (SoC) silicon for smartphones and tablets, but licensing it to other chipmakers could see it used in a wider range of devices.

The move will see the firm competing directly against ARM, which licenses its Mali mobile graphics technology to other chipmakers, and also Imagination Technologies, which specialises in mobile graphics and whose PowerVR technology is used inside Apple's iPhone and some of Intel's Atom processors.