Imagination Technologies Unveils Power-Efficient DXTP GPU for Mobile AI and Gaming

Imagination launches power efficient D-Series GPU designs for smartphones

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."

Imagination reveals new power-efficient DXTP GPU for laptops and mobile devices

Imagination Technology has announced its newest GPU IP, Imagination DXTP. With 20% improved power efficiency over its predecessor DXT, Imagination brings two new RISC-V GPU models to the power-constrained market to complete its D-Series GPU family. Based in the UK and owned by Chinese investment firm Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, Imagination Technology is known for its GPU IP design, which is adopted by the PC, smartphone, and automotive markets. Imagination DXTP will come in two variations: DXTP-48-1536 and DXTP-64-2048. Both GPUs are identical in software support and firmware. The chips support Vulkan 1.4 and "highly optimized" OpenGL 4.6 and OpenCL 3.0 libraries to reach 80% GPU utilization in everyday tasks. Like all Imagination GPU IPs, the chips specialize in asynchronous multitasking, simultaneously performing graphical and AI tasks. Both the DXTP-48-1536 and DXTP-48-1536 are clocked at 1 GHz. However, the latter scales up to 2,048 FP3 FLOPs per clock, which, according to Imagination, delivers a desktop-quality gaming performance to mobile devices. According to Imagination, the DXTP offers up to 22% improved power efficiency compared to its predecessor, the DXT. However, the manufacturer didn't provide any details of the workloads. Both flavors of DXTP are RISC-V-based chips with support for Linux and Android operating systems. Windows and MacOS are necessarily not included, as Windows on RISC-V is a distant pipe dream. Still, low-power Linux computers will likely be an eventual landing place for DXTP hardware. As Imagination's flagship D-Series GPU family, DXTP hopes to bring AI capabilities to a broader range of partner devices, including smartphones and PCs. In a statement, Peter Richardson of Counterpoint Research says, "The global smartphone market is experiencing a resurgence, propelled by cutting-edge AI features such as personal agents and enhanced photography." While the IP has already been licensed for smartphone and automotive uses, Imagination hopes the GPU will be used in desktop and laptop deployments. As a GPU IP creator, Imagination Technology's products typically take over a year to see release in consumer products after their announcement. Imagination DXD and DXT, serving the desktop, laptop, and cloud gaming markets, have attracted intense attention in the Chinese market for their imminent consumer releases. Imagination DXTP's announcement follows news that Imagination Technology abandoned its RISC-V Catapult CPU IP this January. Leaving behind the CPU market entirely before releasing a finished product was a scary look for the company. Still, Imagination framed its decision as a recommitment to its RISC-V GPU and AI products. We eagerly await Imagination's hardware clients bringing a GPU to RISC-V desktops that can provide novel low-power gaming experiences.