AMD and Samsung strike deal to bring Radeon graphics to smartphones

Chip manufacturer AMD and electronics giant Samsung have joined forces in a strategic partnership that will bring Radeon graphics to smartphones.

The "multi-year" agreement will see AMD license custom graphics IP to Samsung, based on its new, highly scalable RDNA graphics architecture, announced at last month's Computex event.

The technology will be used in ultra-low power mobile devices, as well as other products that "compliment AMD product offerings", the companies said.

Having been used in PCs and games consoles such PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the firm's Radeon graphics technology has significant reach and now its latest architecture is set to help drive graphics innovation across both smartphones and mobile applications.

"As we prepare for disruptive changes in technology and discover new opportunities, our partnership with AMD will allow us to bring groundbreaking graphics products and solutions to market for tomorrow's mobile applications," said Inyup Kang, president at Samsung's S.LSI business.

"We look forward to working with AMD to accelerate innovations in mobile graphics technologies that will help take future mobile computing to the next level."

Although details of the deal have not been revealed, the strategic partnership will see Samsung pay AMD royalties and licensing fees in return for the technology - a move which could ultimately help enable the company to better compete with market rivals Nvidia.

"Adoption of our Radeon graphics technologies across the PC, game console, cloud and HPC markets has grown significantly and we are thrilled to now partner with industry leader Samsung to accelerate graphics innovation in the mobile market," commented Dr Lisa Su, president and CEO at AMD.

"This strategic partnership will extend the reach of our high-performance Radeon graphics into the mobile market, significantly expanding the Radeon user base and development ecosystem."