Radeon Technologies Group to Focus on Immersive Computing
Creating fully immersive user experiences like Augmented Reality is very computationally complex. Purpose-built semiconductors—the graphic processing unit or GPU—are more efficient for delivering rich graphics in real time than general purpose processors but they are also more power hungry and expensive. The leading provider of discreet GPUs, such as those that accelerate the processes necessary for Augmented Reality, is NVIDIA.
In a recent report released by Mercury Research, NVIDIA’s market share continued to climb from 76% of the discrete GPU market in Q4 2014 to 82% in Q2 2015.
In an effort to counteract this trend, AMD announced in a press release that it has put in place a new vertically-integrated graphics organization. Led by graphics industry veteran, Raja Koduri, the Radeon Technologies Group will focus on intellectual property for use in traditional graphics markets as well as projects to demonstrate its capabilities and benefits in new markets such as Augmented Reality.
New offers for designers of semiconductors destined to be built into smart glasses and other devices will be available for licensing but, due to the many phases between design and final release, the products that benefit from next generation AMD semiconductors are unlikely to be available to customers before late 2016 or early 2017.