Graphics chip maker NVIDIA has announced that is considering licencing its technology to other firms in a similar fashion to the Cambridge chip maker ARM.

In a statement made earlier this week Nvidia said it would start to licence both its GPU cores and its “visual computing” patent portfolio to new product manufactures.  Opening the gates to the likes of Apple, Samsung and Nokia to start integrating either GPU or technologies into future smartphones and tablets.

In a blog post David Shannon Nvidia executive vice president and general counsel said. “it’s not practical to build silicon or systems to address every part of the expanding market.”. Going on to point out “Adopting a new business approach will allow us to address the universe of devices”.

Nvidia have long been a leader in graphics, but are still finding it difficult to break in to the tablet and smartphone market, as its main core PC business continues to shrink. Nvidia said it would first licence the GPU core based on its current Kepler chips with products likely to appear in market by as early as 2015.

This seems a great step for both Nvidia and consumers alike. Smartphones and tablets get a boost in graphics and Nvidia takes a step back from the perilous world of hardware production.

Kitguru say: A Samsung S6 with Nvidia graphics? Yes please.

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