AMD provides unified shaders for mobile phones

Posted at: 1:43am 2nd October 2007 by Ben Hardwidge

AMD licenses its unified shader architecture to Qualcomm for use in mobile phones

Forget playing Snake, or even your ported version of Sonic the Hedgehog, on your phone, as it looks as though we could soon get full unified shader technology in mobiles. AMD has just announced that it’s licensing its graphics core technology to Qualcomm, which it claims is a part of each company’s commitment to unleashing ‘unleash state-of-the-art graphics across a range of handheld devices.’

More importantly, AMD claims that the agreement ‘bring AMD’s patented Unified Shader Architecture - first introduced in the Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming system - to Qualcomm’s advanced Mobile Station Modem(MSM) chipsets.’ According to AMD this doesn’t just mean that the technology is going to be used in big handheld devices, but that it could also end up ‘potentially reaching many millions of mobile phone users.’

The news has already been gratefully received by those in the mobile games business. Alex Caccia, CEO of Ideaworks3D, which is responsible for the mobile versions of Tomb Raider Starring Lara Croft, The Sims 2 Mobile and various mobile Need for Speed Titles, said that the ‘promise of upcoming handheld architectures supporting OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics standards is expected to bring a game-changing evolution in 3D capabilities for developers.’ He added that ‘the popularity of the Qualcomm platform infused with AMD technology makes a winning combination, laying the groundwork for a wealth of new devices capable of supporting the same mind-blowing 3D performance seen in today's videogame consoles and PCs.’

While it’s going to be a long time before we see Caccia’s vision of the same 3D performance of today’s PCs in a mobile phone, the fact that the industry is already considering unified shaders in a phone is quite a big breakthrough itself.