At Embedded World 2025, Imagination Technologies showcased a range of advancements in GPU technology and open-source initiatives. One highlight was a demonstration of a large language model (LLM) implemented by a partner on an xdx PCI Express card. This setup utilized a general-purpose GPU (GPGPU) with a compute pipeline, offering a more affordable and flexible alternative to larger GPUs in server environments.
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Synaptics is my Embedded World 2025 video coverage sponsor, check out my Synaptics videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7xXqJFxvYvhAbQoe9YN4c84SqXxIY3fQ
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Another significant showcase was the introduction of Imagination’s open-source driver stack. Demonstrated on the BeaglePlay board from the Beagle Foundation, this low-cost, low-power single-board computer features Texas Instruments’ Sitara AM625 SoC, which integrates Imagination’s AXE-1-16M GPU. The open-source driver stack provides native Vulkan support, enabling translation layers like Zink to facilitate OpenGL ES compatibility.
Imagination also presented a driver monitoring system leveraging video processing to assess driver attentiveness. This system employs OpenCL compute libraries running on the GPU’s compute pipeline to execute AI software, highlighting the GPU’s versatility in safety-critical applications.
Additionally, the company showcased hardware GPU virtualization capabilities using Texas Instruments’ AM69 SoC, which houses the BXS-4-64 GPU. This demonstration featured multiple applications running on separate hardware interfaces of the GPU, known as hyperlanes. These dedicated hardware interfaces allow direct communication between the GPU and virtual machines, ensuring near-native performance without the need for software-based virtualization.
Imagination’s commitment to open-source development was further underscored by their release of open-source drivers for their PowerVR Rogue architecture GPUs. This initiative enables developers and OEMs to have greater control over their graphics software stacks, promoting flexibility and long-term support across various platforms.
The company’s engagement with the RISC-V ecosystem was also evident, as they have become a preferred choice for RISC-V SoCs. This collaboration aims to bring advanced graphics capabilities to RISC-V platforms, expanding the reach of Imagination’s GPU technologies.
Throughout the event, Imagination Technologies emphasized their focus on delivering flexible, high-performance GPU solutions tailored for embedded systems, industrial applications, and AI workloads. Their open-source initiatives and hardware virtualization features position them as a key player in the evolving landscape of embedded computing.
Check out all my Embedded World 2025 videos in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7xXqJFxvYvjgUpdNMBkGzEWU6YVxR8Ga
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