Samsung bets on ARM's Mali for graphics

LONDON — Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has announced that it is adopting the Mali graphics processor architecture from ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England) for its future graphics-enabled system-on-chip (SoC) ICs as well as for its ASIC and foundry business.

Samsung said the agreement with ARM — announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain — is long-term and strategic and that it would introduce Mali GPU-based chips for mobile devices with high-end graphics features with initial samples coming in the third quarter of 2010.

In the past Samsung has used the PowerVR range of graphics processor cores, which it licensed from Imagination Technologies Group plc (Kings Langley, England), with success in such applications as the Apple iPhone. Imagination's stock price was down 6 percent mid-afternoon in London at 255.30 pence.

Samsung is not new to the Mali architecture. It started by licensing the Mali-JSR184 3D graphics engine in January 2008. However, ARM has been touting its success with its Mali graphics cores over recent months and particularly mentioned Samsung in analyst briefings on its Q4 and full year financial results for 2009.

"We are happy to extend our ongoing partnership with ARM. The close coupling of both the mobile computing and the graphics processor technologies will provide optimized system performance throughout our vast line-up of popular semiconductor solutions," said Chinhyun Kim, vice president responsible for System LSI chip development at Samsung, in a statement. "The ARM Mali architecture will bring greater opportunities to the mobile market segment especially as advanced graphics solutions are expected to be in high demand for the high-performance multimedia and visual experience."

"The adoption of the Mali graphics architecture by Samsung, a world leader in advanced semiconductor solutions, builds on the broad collaboration between Samsung and ARM and is a highly visible demonstration of the growing momentum behind the Mali graphics processor architecture," said.

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