For years, Samsung has had the ambition to develop its own proprietary graphics processing unit (GPU) for use in its mobile devices. Now, there are reports that the company has finally completed work on the first iteration of the component, which is apparently being referred to internally as the S-GPU.

In September 2016, it emerged that Samsung was in talks with both AMD and Nvidia with regard to licensing technologies to further its GPU project. It’s currently unclear whether either company contributed to the finished product, or whether Samsung elected to pursue other options.

Samsung is an enormous company, and has plenty of experience making its own components for use in its consumer devices. The firm already produces its own displays, and in some cases, processors — which makes a lot of sense, given how many smartphones and tablets it sells around the world.

Bringing GPU production in-house allows Samsung to cut costs by eliminating the need to secure components from an outside company. It remains to be seen whether this move will result in lower prices for the consumer, or will simply empower Samsung to better compete with the deep pockets of its biggest rival in the smartphone market, Apple.

Rumors have been swirling about Samsung’s GPU project since at least 2014, so it’s clear that the company has put considerable time and effort into the research and development process. Now that work on the first-generation version of the component has been completed, it’s only a matter of time before we see the fruits of this labor.

It’s expected that the S-GPU will be put through rigorous internal tests for the remainder of this year, according to a report from Sam Mobile. Assuming that those tests yield the desired results, we could see the component implemented in Samsung’s Exynos chipset as early as 2018.

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