The manufacturers of Sega's PowerVR chip to make graphics accelerator for Dolphin

In a somewhat surprising move, NEC - makers of the PowerVR chipset used in Sega's Dreamcast - have signed with Nintendo to manufacture the Art-X-designed graphics accelerator for Dolphin. According to NEC's associate vice president, Junshi Yamaguchi, the Nintendo graphics chipset will use as low as 8Mb and as high as 16Mb of on-board embedded DRAM.

Comparatively, Sony's PS2 features 5Mb on its graphics chip, but also draws upon additional system RAM continuously. It is not yet known just how much system RAM Nintendo's machine will include.

"The deal with Nintendo marks NEC's first real commercial business for eDRAM", said Yamaguchi. "And if it goes well we will expand eDRAM to use in networking and other applications, so we are making the Nintendo project a strategic priority".

The company are currently in the testing stages for their eDRAM technology and are reportedly working feverishly to finalise the manufacturing process in time for Nintendo's deadlines.

Courtesy of IGN.com