ARM sees demand for HD mobile media, entertainment grow as Mali GPU licensing momentum continues

BANGALORE, INDIA: ARM announced that it is seeing demand for mobile devices offering a high-definition (HD) entertainment and browsing experience rapidly increasing in Asia, as two more licensing agreements for its ARM Mali graphics processing units (GPUs) are made with mobile technology providers in the region, Rockchip and Telechips.

Leading mobile analyst house, Screen Digest, has highlighted the importance of a quality of end-user experience in mobile entertainment provision. The analyst house estimates that as high-end mobile devices become more mainstream, the mobile gaming, video and TV market will grow 300 percent to €8.5 billion (approximately US $12 billion) by 2013 in Asia Pacific, North America and Europe.

Rockchip has licensed three ARM technologies to enable OEMs to enhance the quality of graphics and to allow complex applications to be run on portable devices without jeopardizing battery life.

The China-based semiconductor developer has licensed the ARM Mali-55 GPU, the ARM926EJ-S processor and the ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller for use in next-generation mobile phones and portable media players, offering consumers cutting-edge media experiences while on the move.

Korea-based Telechips has extended its license of the ARM Mali-200 GPU for its multimedia applications processor, now in silicon and set to deliver stunning interfaces and user-friendly navigation on a range of mobile and consumer electronics devices.

“Today's high-end mobile devices with large screens and computer-like capabilities are big drivers for mobile content consumption and especially for mobile games and mobile video,” said Ronan de Renesse, senior analyst at Screen Digest.

“Highly demanding applications and services such as TV, video and games on mobile devices are set to generate in excess of €8.5 billion by the end of 2013 in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific; three times more than it did in 2008. Quality of experience is key for the market to reach its full potential.”

Consumers today want to be able to enjoy next-generation entertainment on a range of mobile devices. By incorporating ARM graphics technologies into their solutions, ARM Partners are enabling OEMs to meet the demands of today’s discerning consumers by delivering spectacular, high-definition video, user-friendly browsing and console-quality gaming experiences on mobile devices.

"The combination of the ARM Mali-55 GPU and ARM processor IP enables us to meet OEM requirements for the right balance of low power, performance and area, bringing advanced end user experiences to consumers on a wide range of mobile phones and portable media devices," said Feng Chen, CMO, Rockchip.

"The range of market-proven IP, supporting system elements and extensive ecosystem that ARM provides helps us to continue bringing end-to-end SoC solutions to market."

"Extending our relationship with ARM enables us to take further advantage of Mali graphics IP, delivering high performance OpenVG, OpenGL ES 1.1 and OpenGL ES 2.0 compliant mobile and consumer electronics solutions to our customers," said Jang-Kyu Lee, COO and VP, Telechips. "The Mali-200 GPU brings cutting-edge user interfaces and navigation experiences to devices, fulfilling the increasing demands of consumers."

“These two new licensing agreements demonstrate the growing demand for next-generation graphics expertise amongst semiconductor companies and OEMs in Asia. ARM’s collaborative approach to graphics acceleration solutions, combined with the strength of the Mali range and the reach of the ARM Partner ecosystem, has led to the adoption of Mali GPUs by 22 licensees to-date,” concluded Lance Howarth, general manager, ARM Media Processing Division.