News Samsung reportedly in GPU talks with AMD, Nvidia

Neither company really makes sense. To my recollection, Qualcomm is effectively using an AMD GPU design right now; AMD realized that their efforts in the mobile market wasn't worth the effort, which is why they sold off that division to Qualcomm. I can't imagine AMD's modern GPUs will be a whole lot easier.
Nvidia seems like an even worse choice. If Samsung chooses to go for Nvidia, what will their chip do that a Tegra can't do [better]? Sure, there's the idea that Samsung providing their own chip would be cheaper for their own products, but by how much? Doesn't Nvidia already use Samsung's fabs for some of their chips? Seems to me that it would make more sense for Samsung to just make a deal with Nvidia - produce Tegra chips for their own phones and tablets, but at a discount.

 

It may not be the only reason, but I'd be willing to bet that ARM's sale to Japanese ownership has added a strong incentive for them to look to change.

 

Eh, seems to me political issues rarely have an influence on business. Keep in mind many companies would rather sweep something illegal or immoral under the rug in order to maximize a profit, so I don't think Samsung (being Korean) would switch away from Mali in spite of the Japanese.

Unless, you're implying something different.

 

Spec wars are us, Apple uses full custom solution, Samsung wants to do the same. Is all this really is.

 

Tegra chips have really lousy performance per watt ratio, hence they are not used in mobile phones.

Samsung is building Exynos chips for phones and tablets, not for crappy game consoles with same level of performance as mobile phones but considerably worse power consumption.

No?!

 

The concern would be nothing to do with who the new owners are, but simply that there are new owners. ARM's licensing policy has held steady for years, but even the possibility[ that it may change is sufficient grounds to investigate alternatives. Because if you don't, and the policy does change in the future, you are now up **** creek and didn't bother to investigate what a paddle was a few years ago when you had the chance.

 

Nvidia is not a company I'd want to have a deal with. From what I hear it's more trouble than it's worth.