Intel teases dGPU graphics for 2020 launch

Intel has used the platform of the SIGGRAPH 2018 computer graphics conference to tease its discrete graphics product, promising to 'set [its] graphics free' with a 2020 launch in mind.

Intel accounts for the majority of the world's desktop and laptop graphics processor shipments, with its integrated GPUs (iGPUs) being found in around 67.4 percent of shipments according to market watcher John Peddie. Unlike its rivals AMD and Nvidia, however, it does not have a discrete GPU (dGPU) product, having abandoned its Larrabee dGPU project back in 2010 and repurposed the technology for an x86-based many-core accelerator dubbed Xeon Phi.

The company has been looking to change that, though: Late last year it hired AMD's Raja Koduri to relaunch its dGPU efforts, and now it's teasing the result.

In a short video posted to the Intel Graphics Twitter account, the company pledges to 'set our graphics free.' In a series of captions, the video continues: 'We light up quintillions of pixels across the planet every day. Because at Intel, graphics are integrated into our core. But power, size and cost haven't constrained us from making history. We brought the world its first fully compliant DX12 graphics processor. We were the first PC graphics to play Netflix movies in 4K. We brought esports gaming to a PC about as thin as a phone. Working with millions of developers every day, we ensure no pixel is left behind. And in 2020, we will set our graphics free. And that's just the beginning.'

Chris Hook, responsible for Intel's dGPU market efforts, added the following: '[It] will take time and effort to be the first successful entrant into the dGPU segment in 25 years, but we have some incredible talent at Intel, and above all, a passion for discrete graphics.'

Technical details of the product family have not yet been provided.