LucidLogix, a developer of a chip that automatically distributes workload between numerous graphics processors in a multi-GPU array, said that its investors provided the company additional $8 million in response to growing sales of the company’s Hydra-series products.

“The confidence level of our investors has come from our ability to successfully launch and deliver our second generation Hydra 200 product to mass production, which is already on motherboards from one of the top three manufacturers in the world, MSI, and with more partners in the pipeline. The additional investment will enable the company to expand to international markets and boost sales,” said Moshe Steiner, chief executive officer of Lucid.

LucidLogix Technologies received an additional $8 million in funding from current investors Rho Ventures, Giza Venture Capital and Genesis Partners, bringing total capitalization to $40 million. The funds are intended to be used for sales support, accelerate market penetration of current products, and for research and development of future technologies.

The Hydra engine sits between a chipset and several graphics processing units (GPU) and acts like a dispatch processor within an array of graphics chips to distribute tasks between the processors. The technology drives the GPUs, performing scalable rendering of a particular image or scene, and relies on “unique adaptive decomposition and acceleration algorithms to overcome bottlenecks”. The Hydra engine combines a PCI Express system-on-chip with exclusive software technologies that load-balance graphics processing tasks, delivering near-linear to above-linear performance with two, three or more graphics cards, according to the company’s promises. Lucid claims that even completely different GPUs – from ATI and Nvidia, for example – can work in the same tandem.

“Lucid is making the natural transition from a research and development startup to a silicon-product company. We are working with leading strategic partners in the PC market during this critical time to deliver on our promises and grow the company, therefore the ongoing support by our investors is extremely valuable,” said Offir Remez, Lucid co-founder and president.

Tags: Lucid, Hydra, MSI, CrossFire, SLI