At this year’s AMD Computex 2021 keynote event, Chief Executive Officer Lisa Su, amongst a collection of various new product statements and also technology disclosures, has teased some brand-new details on the business’s collaboration with Samsung in regards to the new RDNA GPU IP that’s been licensed out as well as the two company have been servicing to deliver in the next-generation Exynos SoCs.
The original licensing and cooperation arrangement was first introduced in June of 2019. It occurred as a somewhat one-of-a-kind IP licencing bargain between AMD and Samsung LSI, as it relatively surpassed the usual IP block licensing offer. While we still do not have a lot of official details on the specific arrangement structure, the bargain is said to be more of a collaborative initiative between both celebrations regarding establishing the IP and adapting and optimizing it for low-power mobile SoC usages. This comes in comparison with the industry’s standard IP block licensing behaviour, where the IP carrier has complete and sole control over the layout.
Earlier this year, Samsung LSI’s VP and GM, Dr Inyup Kang, announced that the division is planning on incorporating the brand-new AMD RDNA-based GPU in the next-generation Exynos flagship SoC.
At the event today, Dr Lisa Su even more commented on a few brand-new information regarding the GPU IP:
In the following location, you’ll find RDNA 2 will be the high-performance intelligent phone market. AMD has partnered with industry leader Samsung to increase graphics development in the mobile market. We’re happy to introduce personalized graphics IP to Samsung’s next flagship SoC, with ray-tracing and variable price shielding capabilities. We’re genuinely eagerly anticipating Samsung supplying more information later this year.
The brand-new information being divulged below is the truth that Samsung’s implementation of the RDNA GPU will continue to roll over variable-rate and ray-tracing shading capabilities from its more giant AMD PC and console GPU architecture brother or sisters. These are two crucial features coming into the mobile market; while the intro of VRS would not be the first on the market– significantly being carried out in this year’s Adreno 660 GPU in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, it would undoubtedly be the second such confirmed implemented mobile GPU, as well as the just one from a GPU IP supplier, which AMD now apparently is.
The addition of ray-tracing abilities would certainly also be a very first in the mobile market. While it’s not clear exactly how this would undoubtedly convert over inaccurate game titles on smart devices and tablet computers, having RT capabilities is a vital attribute set that Samsung LSI will unquestionably make use of in their advertising of the next-gen SoCs. Once again, this would undoubtedly be the initial and only RT-capable GPU IP that we have confirmation on being executed in the industry– a minimum of the mobile market. Imagination’s next-gen C-Series GPU IP is additionally promoted to have RT. However, the business has had no mobile IP success in recent times, and also AMD and Samsung will defeat them to market. On the other hand, Arm has additionally teased that they are dealing with VRS and RT GPU IP. However, the recently announced Mali-G710 does not have these functions, and also thus, we won’t be anticipating any compatible mobile Mali GPU execution till 2023 at minimum.
The one point that was odd concerning today’s news was that AMD and Dr Lisa Su were partially referring to the GPU IP as RDNA 2. I think this was confounding of IP generations for the keynote and the public’s benefit– RDNA 2 as a graphics IP is a 2020 matter. Also, Samsung’s next-gen Exynos SoC appearing at the end of 2021 for 2022 flagship gadgets would significantly indicate an RDNA 3 IP generation. AMD not having officially announced or described RDNA 3 since yet, as well as Dr Lisa Su also a lot more explicitly representing using “custom-made graphics IP”, likewise makes me feel that the reference of RDNA 2 in the advertising and marketing products to be even more of an issue of colloquialism. AMD would undoubtedly promote Samsung’s IP usage and not place the cart before the equine in terms of RDNA 3 statements.
As a whole, today’s statements line up with our assumptions of the AMD x Samsung cooperation. We’ll be seeing the new Exynos 2100 successor being exposed sometime towards the completion of the year and greatly anticipate it to be utilized in the Galaxy S22 generation of tools in very early 2022.
