Intel pours millions into graphics research

Intel is investing heavily in a graphics project at Saarland University in Germany

Intel is planning to make major new investments in graphics processing and visual computing, promising to spend some $12m (£7.8m) on new research and development efforts in Europe.

The money will be spent over five years as part of a project at Saarland University in Germany, and will be the largest of its kind that Intel has funded in Europe.

"Intel has collaborated with the world-class researchers at Saarland University in visual computing for a number of years," said Justin Rattner, Intel's chief technology officer and senior fellow.

"Given the growing importance of visual computing technology, it made perfect sense to expand our relationship and form this new institute."

The project will focus on improving image processing, and the way users interact and analyse images in everyday computing operations. Intel hopes that the project can be applied to fields such as gaming, medical imaging and financial analysis.

Over the long term, the company plans to include the research in its tera-scale project, which seeks to create the processors and platforms for next-generation datacentres and applications.