WebGPU proposal would create a standard API for exposing GPU features to web browsers
Apple is promoting the development of a standard API that would allow web browsers to access GPU features for 3D graphics.
The team behind Apple’s WebKit browser engine proposed a community group at the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) called the W3C Community Group for GPU on the Web that would be charged with providing an interface between the web browser and modern 3D graphics and computation capabilities in native system platforms.
“The goal is to design a new web API that exposes these modern technologies in a performant, powerful, and safe manner,” the community group proposal states. “It should work with existing platform APIs, such as Direct3D 12 from Microsoft, Metal from Apple, and Vulkan from the Khronos Group. ” Beyond generic computational capabilities being exposed in existing GPUs via the API, Apple also wants to investigate shader languages to produce a cross-platform solution.
