Intel to sell its stake in Imagination, set to use only in-house GPUs

Just several years ago many rumours suggested that Apple and Intel Corp. were interested in taking over Imagination Technologies, a leading developer of graphics processing technologies for mobile devices as both companies needed high-performance low-power graphics cores. Apparently, Intel is now very confident of its in-house GPU developers as it plans to sell of its stake in ImgTec. Potentially, it means that the chip giant will exclusively use its own graphics cores inside its products.

Intel Foundation plans to sell 13.4 million shares, or about 4.9% of Imagination, according to Dow Jones Business News, which cites JP Morgan. If all shares are sold, Intel Foundation and Intel Capital will no longer own shares of the PowerVR GPU developer. The reasons why Intel decided to get rid of Imagination Technology’s shares are completely unclear at the moment. One of the possible reasons could be the fact that Intel no longer considers the British company strategically important for itself.

In the recent years Intel Corp. significantly improved its own integrated graphics processing units. Moreover, all of the company’s latest and upcoming high-performance system-on-chips for tablets and smartphones will rely on its own GPU technology. While it is likely that lower-end solutions, as well as Atom-based application processors developed by Rockchip and Spreadtrum, will continue to use graphics cores licensed from Imagination for a period of time, it is highly likely that the grand plan is to use only in-house developed graphics processors with x86 chips.

Exclusive usage of Intel’s own GPUs inside its x86 SoCs makes a lot of sense for Intel, which needs to unify user experience across different platforms. If the company installs only its own graphics cores inside the continuum of its processors for different devices, then it will ensure that developers will take advantage of their peculiarities and user experience will be similar no matter what kind of personal computer they use. Besides, supporting products with similar architecture is cheaper than supporting chips with different types of technology inside.

By contrast, Apple, which uses PowerVR graphics processing technologies designed by ImgTec in its application processors for smartphones, tablets and other devices, continues to hold around 10 per cent stake in the company. Last year Apple renewed agreement with Imagination to include the latest GPU technologies from the latter.

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KitGuru Says: Imagination Technologies accelerated development of graphics processing IP in the recent years and has announced a number of very interesting initiatives. Will Intel's GPU designers manage to create graphics cores that are as feature-rich and power-efficient as those from Power VR? Only time will tell. One of the things that is completely unclear to me is why Intel Foundation, which fosters educational opportunities and quality of life improvements for communities worldwide, owns shares of a technology licensing company from the U.K.

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