Imagination Technologies unveiled its latest GPU IP, Imagination DXTP, which sets a new standard for the
efficient acceleration of graphics and compute workloads on smartphones and other power-constrained devices.
Thanks to an array of micro-architectural improvements, DXTP delivers up to 20% improved power efficiency (FPS/W) on popular graphics workloads when compared to its DXT equivalent.
The DXTP GPU IP extends battery life while accelerating graphics and compute workloads on mobile and other power-constrained devices.
London-based Imagination has gone through a lot of change. The company announced its AXT GPU series in 2019, followed by the BXT in 2020 and the CXT in 2021. It launched its IMG DTX GPUs in 2023. Licensors launch their products in the market roughly 18 months after the announcements.
Imagination is targeting markets from mobile devices to self-driving cars. Last year, it pushed into the ray-tracing feature which had previously been the domain of high-end GPus for desktops or game consoles.
“The global smartphone market is experiencing a resurgence, propelled by cutting-edge AI features such as personal agents and enhanced photography,” said Peter Richardson, partner at Counterpoint Research, in a statement. “However, the success of this AI-driven revolution hinges on maintaining the high standards users expect: smooth interfaces, sleek designs, and all-day battery life. As the market matures, consumers are gravitating towards premium devices that seamlessly integrate these advanced AI capabilities without compromising on essential smartphone qualities.”
Offering up to 64 GPixel/s, 2 TFLOPS FP32 and 8 TOPS INT8 in an ultra-parallel compute engine running at 1GHz, DXTP is available in two off-the-shelf configurations and has already been licensed for use in mobile and automotive.
In addition to performance and efficiency optimizations, DXTP is highly flexible, featuring fully secure GPU multitasking (via Imagination’s low-overhead, hardware-based virtualization technology). and has the ability to run graphics and compute operations at the same time.
“Zelos is integrating the advanced, power-efficient compute of Imagination DXTP into our upcoming chip,” says Cheng Chen, technical director at Zelos, in a statement. “Imagination’s GPUs combine the performance of ultra-parallel processing with the flexibility that comes from a highly programmable architecture, making them the ideal platform for accelerating our AI models.”
DXTP is supported by Imagination’s well-established software ecosystem and award-winning SDK and tools. It ships with highly optimized OpenCL compute libraries that boost GPU utilization for popular AI tasks, as well as reference kits for oneAPI and TensorGraph that accelerate the porting of existing code onto Imagination-based hardware.
Optimized LiteRT support for Imagination GPUs will enable high performance AI on Android. App developers have access to the PowerVR developer tools for low-level performance analysis, debugging, trace capturing, as well as expert support through the Imagination developer forum.
“Imagination DXTP is a real example of many small steps achieving big gains and of the resourcefulness of Imagination’s engineering teams,” said James Chapman, chief product officer at Imagination, in a statement. “The set of performance and efficiency improvements inside DXTP will enable future smartphones to run the next wave of gaming and AI applications with even lower power consumption than before.”
