Imagination Technologies says POWERVR SGX driving migration towards shader-based graphics in mobile

Over 100 products now shipping with SGX shader-based graphics

October 20, 2009 -- Imagination Technologies, a leading multimedia chip technologies company, reports that mobile graphics hit a new milestone this month, with over 100 leading consumer electronics products now utilising Imagination’s POWERVR SGX to deliver advanced shader-based graphics.

Enabling over 25 handsets and over 75 netbook and mobile Internet device (MID) products, Imagination’s POWERVR SGX is the driving force behind the delivery of OpenGL ES 2.0 into the hands of consumers.

Says Tony King-Smith, VP Marketing, Imagination: “Semiconductor manufacturers and OEMs have embraced shader-based graphics for mobile more rapidly than we expected. The majority of mobile applications processors in design today from key manufacturers are using OpenGL ES 2.0 capable graphics from Imagination, including Texas Instruments, Intel, NEC, Samsung, Renesas and others. And the headline products in the mobile segment today are already those with shader capabilities, such as the Sony Ericsson Satio.”

Imagination’s POWERVR SGX graphics IP cores now range from SGX520, the world’s smallest OpenGL™ ES 2.0 mobile core, to SGX543MP16 for high-performance console and computing devices. All members of the SGX family also fully support the popular OpenGL ES 1.1 and OpenVG 1.1 standards, with a growing number of cores also providing full support for DirectX 9 and DirectX 10. Imagination provides mature and comprehensive reference drivers for all major operating systems including Linux, Symbian, Windows Vista/XP, Windows Mobile and Android.

Albin Olofsson, Tools Product Manager, Developer World, Sony Ericsson says: "With OpenGL ES 2.0 shader-based graphics enabled by POWERVR SGX, the Sony Ericsson Satio smartphone will set a new benchmark for mobile phone graphics and create an exciting opportunity for applications developers to move to the next level of graphical sophistication. We are delighted to be working closely with Imagination to deliver their advanced SDKs and support capabilities to our thriving developer ecosystem."

About Imagination Technologies

Imagination Technologies Group plc (LSE:IMG) – a global leader in multimedia and communication silicon technologies – creates and licenses market-leading processor cores for graphics, video, multi-threaded embedded processing/DSP and multi-standard communications applications. These silicon intellectual property (IP) solutions for systems-on-chip (SoC) are complemented by strong array of software tools and drivers as well as extensive developer and middleware ecosystems. Target markets includemobile phone, handheld multimedia, home consumer entertainment, mobile and low-power computing, and in-car electronics.Its licensees include many of the leading semiconductor and consumer electronics companies. Imagination has corporate headquarters in the United Kingdom, with sales and R&D offices worldwide. See: www.imgtec.com.