...IMG buys STM gfx... I'm certain this wouldn't happen, it wouldn't exactly be what a IP Licensing company would be looking to do and would probably be considered as a devolutionary step.
One could perhaps make a case for IMG developing flagship products themselves, and license their tech for other areas (mobile/integrated/STB etc.)
Their partnerships with NEC and ST have hardly resulted in rapid development of PVR PC chipsets (and hence have had only a limited effect on the market), and this is very possibly because the relationships between IMG + partner are too unwieldy.
There is also the argument that IMG should have a larger say in the development of 3D standards (they are a non-voting participant at OpenGL ARB meetings). With an unorthodox architecture, surely they should be ensuring that 3D APIs develop in a TBR-friendly manner? Of course, in order to influence standards, they must be at the bleeding edge of 3D tech themselves - where they're currently not.
IMG's IP licensing business model seems to be based on ARM's.
ARM is perhaps the most successful, high profile IP licensing company. The mature CPU industry has the following divisions:
a) High performance, high cost, low turnover dominated by the likes of specialist CPUs from SUN and IBM.
b) Medium level desktop CPUs from Intel, AMD, Motorola.
c) Low cost CPUs in commodity devices, particularly SOC, such as phones, PDAs, STBs, dominated by ARM.
The ARM was originally designed by Acorn as a desktop CPU. StrongARM was ARM's last attempt at a 'big' CPU, and good though it was, it never was hugely successful, and is now used almost exclusively in commodity devices.
The less-mature 3D market doesn't have a commodity section (maybe MBX will start to create one). Bracket a) is for the likes of 3D Labs, bracket b) for ATi and nVidia. I suggest the IP licensing model, so successful for ARM, is most appropriate for a bracket c), a type of market which doesn't really exist for 3D.
(Although... could IMG even afford to buy STM's gfx division?)
What happened to that consortium of companies who were supposed to be working with Sega and ImgTec on a new console? Hitachi and Philips were also included with this.
So were ST Micro
. Actually, I'd love to know the answer to this too, but noone seems to know.
