In a dramatic turn of events, Microsoft has announced that DirectX will now adopt the open-standard SPIR-V as the interchange format for representing shader programs.
Microsoft Reveals That They Will Now Align DirectX With Industry Standards, Employing Khronos's SPIR-V IR
The beginning is a bit difficult to understand, but we'll try to develop the article so that a commoner can understand why this development is huge. Before this, Microsoft's DirectX utilized the DXIL (DirectX Intermediate Language) as the interchange format. By "interchange format," we mean the representation of shader code that can be used by different compilers, allowing its compatibility across all devices in the world.
The reason for transitioning from DXIL to SPIR-V is simple: the major players in the industry, such as Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm, utilize the format for their respective programs; hence, it only makes sense for Microsoft to jump into the trend, allowing more universal compatibility.
Microsoft says that the HLSL (High-Level Shader Language) teams are working with the creators of SPIR-V, The Khronos Group, to initiate the early development process, and it's important to note that this transition is a "multi-year" project since shifting the whole ecosystem isn't an easy task.
HLSL is a key shading language used widely across the industry, and Khronos warmly welcomes Microsoft’s participation and embrace of the SPIR-V open standard, which will benefit HLSL, Direct3D, and the entire graphics ecosystem.
Khronos will work to ensure that SPIR-V continues to evolve and remains responsive to the needs of all its client APIs and languages, now including DX12 and HLSL.
- Neil Trevett, Khronos Group President
Given that shifting from DXIL to SPIR-V will require changes from the ground up, Microsoft plans to adopt a gradual approach. It will initially push out a set of SPIR-V extensions to support all of Direct3D’s current and future shader programming features, along with translation tools for cross-usage between the interchange formats. Ultimately, Microsoft aims to achieve a unified IR (Immediate Representation).
This development is massive because it will enable major developers in the industry to work on a single platform. SPIR-V's core design will ensure extensibility, which will enable more rapid innovation of GPU API features. This would not only allow much faster adoption due to relative ease of development but switching to SPIR-V will result in a noticeable improvement in hardware capabilities.
Microsoft believes that the switch to SPIR-V is the "investment of the future" for the DirectX platform and will usher in a new era of development in the ecosystem.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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