GigaOM » ATI

HTC buys graphics IP from VIA. Here’s why

Stacey Higginbotham — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:31:53 +0000

Mobile phone manufacturer HTC has purchased VIA Semiconductor’s graphics business. The deal is indicative of the need for compelling graphics for today’s version of entertainment and computing as well as an admission that mobile device makers may get an edge if they can bring some silicon capabilities in-house. Let’s call it the iPhone effect.

HTC purchased S3 Graphics from VIA in a deal valued at $300 million. VIA still has the rights to use the technology and IP associated with S3 in its chips. VIA is a maker of low-power, x86-based chips that are used in set-top boxes, mobile devices and laptops. It had acquired S3 Graphics in 2001 to integrate graphics capabilities with its processor and chipset products. That was ahead of AMD buying graphics chipmaker ATI in 2006 and Qualcomm buying the mobile graphics division of AMD in 2009. It was also before graphics maker Nvidia got serious about bringing GPUs to mobile devices that resulted in its first mobile chip in 2008.

The graphics edge

A decade after the deal, it’s clear graphics capability is a leading differentiator among device makers as consumers watch more movies, surf more picture-laden websites and generally view the web not only as a medium for reading, but for sharing photos, viewing maps, skimming infographics and any number of visually intense activities.

The deal, announced as HTC comes of a hot quarter where revenue grew by 104 percent from the previous year and net income doubled to $607.26 million, could also be a result of Apple’s influence on the handset market. Apple has developed its own silicon for its phones and tablets, and Samsung has been working on a similar tactic. Perhaps HTC realized vertical integration might be the way to go in mobile development and wanted to lock down some graphics capabilities for a reasonable cost.

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New Mac Pro Gets 12 Cores, ATI Graphics

Alex Layne — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:27:19 +0000

The Mac Pro was the product on Apple’s line that most needed a refresh, and it’s finally here. The new Mac Pro features Intel’s latest quad-core and 6-core Xeon processors, giving you up to 12 cores and offering 50 percent greater performance over its aging predecessor. Clock speeds on the quad-core model are up to 2.8 GHz, while the 8-core model gets bumped to 2.4 GHz for each processor.

In addition to the dodeca-core upgrade, the Mac Pro also features new ATI graphics with the help of the ATI Radeon HD 5770 or HD 5870 graphics processors. Memory isn’t neglected either now that buyers have the option of maxing out their RAM to 32GB and their HDD space to 4TB. Buyers also have the option of configuring it with up to four 512GB SSDs, which should be insanely fast — and insanely expensive.

Speaking of expense, the baseline quad-core model costs $2499, while the 8-core model costs $3499, and the 12-core a whopping $4999. I hope any of you potential buyers out there just got your paycheck.

~~No word yet on when this monster will be available.~~ These new monsters should be available for purchase sometime next month. You can read the full press release for more specs.

Austin Still Pinning Its Hopes on Hardware Startups

Stacey Higginbotham — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:14:30 +0000

Back during the first technology boom, Austin was a force when it came to silicon and enterprise software startups, but the escalating cost of the plants where chips were manufactured and the SaaS-ification of enterprise software hit Austin’s key sectors hard. Other than cursing Salesforce.com and semiconductor foundries, Austin has tried to make a tech comeback with wireless, clean energy and even a few consumer web startups, but the city is in the midst of an identity crisis, and its startups are lagging those built in Silicon Valley.

Austin has Gowalla, which is trailing behind Foursquare in location-based services, and Heliovolt, which is trailing Valley startup Solyndra in the race to develop better solar technology. But Bart Bohn, a director at the Austin Technology Incubator is hoping to resurrect Austin’s hardware past with a collection of data center infrastructure and wireless startups in the University of Texas-backed incubation program. Given the emphasis on cloud computing and wireless innovation, ATI’s bet may pay off.

In the video below Bohn talks about how infrastructure startups are raising money in Texas, and names some of the exciting companies at ATI, from Smooth-Stone, which is building servers with ARM chips to Savara, a biomed startup that has developed a method for delivering drugs via an inhaler. Maybe, with a newly active ATI, plus a new hardware-focused venture fund in Austin, the city can regain some of its former glory.

Thumbnail courtesy of Flickr user turtlemom4bacon’s

ATI Returning to Mac With 4000-Series Graphics Cards

Darrell Etherington — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:00:42 +0000

Poor NVIDIA — it looks like your honeymoon with Apple is over. There hasn’t been an official announcement from Cupertino yet, but a glance at the customization options for high-end iMacs (the ones that use discrete graphics) and Mac Pros reveals that ATI Radeon HD 4000-series cards are already available as new configurable alternatives to NVIDIA products.

ATI was shown the door at Apple when the computer maker introduced notebooks and desktops that feature integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics cards. Many suspect that things turned rocky between Apple and NVIDIA, thanks to the faulty GeForce 8600M GT cards that resulted in the Mac maker offering customers an unprecedented warranty extension for problems related to that component.

We didn’t see the effects right away, because Apple’s supply chain is likely structured in such a way that its product line was probably in place long before any of the hardware problems began to surface. Adding the Radeon HD 4850 to the iMac line and HD 4870 to the Mac Pro as configurable options may not seem like much in the way of retaliation, but it was probably the first option available to Apple short of overhauling its product line.

Both new ATI options are easy single component swap-outs. If Apple intends to get rid of the integrated GeForce 9400M cards, it will have to wait until the computers themselves receive a major update.

ATI is touting the ability of the new cards to fully utilize and benefit from Apple’s implementation of Open CL Version 1.0 in Snow Leopard, which developers can incorporate into their software to allow a sharing of processor load between CPU and GPU. The HD 4850 is a $50 upgrade, available on the 2.93GHz and 3.06GHz 24-inch iMac models, and the HD 4870 is a $200 upgrade for the Mac Pro.

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Coffee Break — Little Laptop, Littlest Laptop

James Kendrick — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:14:45 +0000

HTC Advantage, MacBook (not in L-R order)

I’m hanging out in the local beanery, working away and generally messing with those around me who not only keep asking me about my “tiny laptop,” but are blown away when I tell them it’s two years old. I’m not bad; I’m just drawn this way.

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Can Intel Thrive in a Post x86 World?

Stacey Higginbotham — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:06:53 +0000

Updated at the end: The way we use computers is changing, as device makers and users emphasize mobility and incredible graphics. I’ve argued that these trends signal the end of x86 computing, but what I’ve ignored is Intel’s drive to bring its brand of x86 computing to these markets, which are traditionally based on other instruction sets. If it succeeds, we may see Intel inside everything from our mobile phones to our set-top boxes.

Rivals such as ARM, which is licensing its intellectual property to a variety of chip firms that build application processors for mobile phones, or Nvidia, which is helping devleopers write code to run more applications on its graphics processing chips, are showing how little the CPU matters when it comes to popular new computing paradigms such as delivering HD video or controlling battery-powered smartphones.

However, Intel is also expanding into graphics processors and low-power computing for wireless devices and embedded systems with x86 based chips. Atom is a low-power x86 chip that Intel will use to duke it out against ARM in low-power and embedded systems, and Larrabee will be an x86 GPU that will compete with graphics chips from AMD and Nvidia.

Broadpoint AmTech analyst Doug Freedman thinks Intel can do it, especially given the chipmaker’s aggressive push into these new markets — mobile phones, embedded processors and even GPUs. In a note published today upgrading Intel, he said, “We believe long-term fundamentals of multi-year share gains in non-PC markets through Atom-based SoC solutions will enable significant (10 percent or more incremental market opportunity) new revenue opportunities.”

He also points out that Intel’s very control of the x86 chips inside computers could hinder GPU rivals once Larrabee comes out, as those GPU makers may not have the appropriate licenses to tie their chips to Intel’s CPUs. But the PC will be just one small (and shrinking) battleground to keep x86 relevant, amid a more mobile, visual and power sensitive world.

What do you guys think? Can Intel do it?

Update: Peter N. Glaskowsky, a technology analyst for The Envisioneering Group calls this post preposterous over at C|Net. He argues that Intel can thrive, and that my idea of a post x86 world is wrong. Perhaps “post x86″ isn’t the most elegant way of summing up the trends of mobility and graphics, but I think it works. I’m also not counting Intel out when it comes to driving its x86 chips into newer markets (and say so in the comments), but I don’t think it’s “preposterous” to have a debate on this topic. Given the thorough response by Glaskowsky, those commenting on his post and the comments below, it’s something we should be talking about.

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