Bolt Graphics powers on its first Zeus test chip as it chases Nvidia and AMD

[Gareth19]

A small graphics start up has reached an important early milestone. Engadget reports that California based Bolt Graphics has powered on its first Zeus test chip, a 12 nanometre part made by TSMC that ran without problems

The test chip measures just six square millimetres and draws 1.4 watts, compared with 35 watts for the FPGA prototype it previously ran on. Its main feature is dedicated hardware for electromagnetic simulation, used in designing radar sensors and camera lenses. Founder and chief executive Darwesh Singh said it runs a highly complex physics algorithm accelerated in hardware, which nobody had done before

The production Zeus GPU will be a separate chip on TSMC's older N5P process, built around open RISC-V cores and Bolt's own path tracing hardware. PCIe cards will combine soldered LPDDR5X memory with DDR5 slots, expandable up to 384GB. Bolt has previously claimed big gains over existing GPUs in rendering and simulation, but those figures have not been independently tested, and volume production is not expected until 2028

Bolt is selling first to studios, engineers and scientists, with gaming and AI to follow later. It has opened an office in Taipei near its manufacturing partners and says more than 14,000 businesses and individuals signed up for early access. Reuters reported it is seeking about $100 million at a valuation of around $700 million

A working test chip is a real step, but it is a long way from a finished GPU, and competing with Nvidia and AMD requires enormous software effort. Focusing on niches like path tracing and simulation first is a sensible way in. More competition in graphics would be welcome for everyone

Can a start up ever challenge Nvidia in graphics? And is specialised hardware the right way to start?

Bolt Graphics powers on its first Zeus GPU - Engadgetwww.engadget.com