Intel seems to continue with its graphics circuit venture as it now has, together with two other companies, invested in the Israeli company Lucid Information Technology Ltd with a contribution of 12 million dollars. Lucid is working on circuits that will be able to connect up to four graphics processors together and is aiming to have the first silicon prototypes ready at the end of 2007. From what it seems Lucid isn’t working on a GPU of its own as its circuit has a somewhat different role which comes from the increasing use of multiple graphics circuits in our computers.
“The chip acts like a hub connecting the main processor to the multiple graphics processors, serving as a traffic cop. One part of it is a chip situated between the two units, and the other part is a software driver, that now supports Windows. The chip helps divide the graphics processing work among several GPUs, while the driver helps makes the application indifferent to the graphics processors in use.”
Intel at least seems to think that Lucid’s technology is interesting and we’re looking forward to seeing the results from this investment, which should really get things moving at the relatively small company.
