Arm, known for building the architecture behind many SoCs, including Qualcomm and Apple chips, is reportedly building a GPU to compete against industry bulwarks Nvidia and Intel. The company is said to have a hundred chip and software developer engineers in its Israel office dedicated to the global graphics processing group working on the project.
The Globes report says that GPU development is focused primarily on gaming. However, it also doesn’t discount the application of such development in AI processing, should its research result in an actual product. We also don’t know if it will be a discrete GPU, as the company said it does not comment on rumors or speculation.
Whether it plans to launch a graphics card that would work with x86 and ARM processors or if it wants to build its own desktop and laptop SoC with a stronger integrated graphics solution, it makes sense for the company to create a GPU for PCs. This is especially true as it already builds the Immortalis flagship GPU and its more affordable Mali counterpart included in many SoCs. After all, even though these GPUs are primarily designed for smartphones and mobile devices, they have features that can compete against desktop chips, like Ray Tracing and Arm Accuracy Super Resolution (ASR) tech.
Another possibility is that Arm is building the architecture for a discrete GPU that other companies could license, possibly for use with ARM processors designed for Windows-on-Arm. Currently, most major discrete GPUs only work with x86/x86-64 processors. While you could hack around to make an Intel Arc GPU work with an Arm Ampere system, it’s not a straightforward hardware and driver installation and requires patience and lots and lots of work.
With Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X off to a good start and desktop form factors expected to arrive shortly, there might be a market for a discrete GPU specifically designed for the ARM architecture.
