Job Listing shows Google looking for ‘Chip Development Effort’ suggesting its processor dreams

Google has always been a software company. It has been managing its plethora of services including the Google Search, Android operating system and other. However it has been dabbling in hardware recently. It all started with Chromebook Pixel and more recently with the Pixel C tablet, which was designed and manufactured by Google.

Now a job listing suggests that Google may be working on building its own processor. The new Google job listing given here, invites applications for a “multimedia chip architect.” The listing suggests that Google may be planning to go all the way and design its own processors for future products as well. Interestingly, the listing was apparently posted by the Pixel division which is behind the Pixel C tablet.

According to chip analyst Jim McGregor, it’s not unusual for system designers to hire people with chipset expertise, as they can analyze the processors and think up of ways to improve their features.

“With the trend towards vertical integration, especially at Microsoft and Apple, it wouldn’t surprise me if Google developed their own chips, especially for Android productivity tablets to compete with the Surface Pro and iPad Pro,” McGregor told Business Insider.

According to the job listing states “In this role, you are responsible for the multimedia performance in systems. You will work with product team and software team to enable a rich multimedia experience. You will be working in aspects of multimedia including image processing, video processing, stabilization, etc. You will be working in emerging technology and products.”

“Propose chip architecture based on product requirements, prototype design in FPGA or simulator, evaluate performance of various performance algorithms, lead a chip development effort and work with other engineers to take chip to product shipment,” Google listed as the responsibilities of the multimedia chip architect on the job listing.

The job listing specifically mentions “image processing, video processing, stabilization.” Given that higher-quality camera processing and high resolution video recording/playback are now major features in a range of mobile products, Google could be looking at using its own image or video processors rather than relying on third party chips.