Vivante GPU IP cores power Freescale i.MX 6 series of application processors

SUNNYVALE, USA: Last week at the Linley Tech Mobile Conference held in Silicon Valley, Freescale Semiconductor detailed the GPUs licensed from Vivante powering the recently announced i.MX 6 series of applications processors.

The i.MX 6 series is Freescale's latest line of application processors scalable from single, dual and quad cores and including multi-stream 1080p video plus Freescale's Triple-Play graphics architecture. The multicore Freescale i.MX 6 series delivers an order of magnitude improvement in graphics performance for Freescale customers targeting the hottest selling smart mobile, automotive infotainment, eReader and networked embedded device categories.

Integrating up to three Vivante GC Series GPU cores, the i.MX 6 series Triple Play architecture delivers more than ten times the graphics performance of Freescale's current generation applications processors, enabling a visually stunning and responsive user experience for next generation devices.

The Vivante GC2000 also introduces GPGPU technology for OpenCL applications to further enhance Freescale's platforms by offloading the CPU for image processing and other high performance computations. The combination of Vivante graphics and GPGPU cores bring new applications to life in mobile devices featuring stereoscopic 3D video playback, desktop-quality gaming, augmented reality and content creation capabilities – all delivered in ultra-sleek form factors with significant battery life advantages over many of today's most popular mobile devices.

"Our i.MX 6 series offers consumers the outstanding compute and graphics performance and visual fidelity our customers demand to drive their new product introductions and roadmaps for their next-generation smart mobile devices," said Rajeev Kumar, consumer product line manager for Freescale's Multimedia Applications Division.

"Graphics performance, quality and technology innovation are key selection criteria and differentiators in the markets we serve. The Vivante GPUs integrated into the quad-, dual- and single-core i.MX 6 series are compelling elements of our newest family of application processors. Offering a common unified software stack and development tool compatibility across the i.MX 6 series enables our customers to address the widest range of applications with fast time to market."

Vivante CEO Wei-Jin Dai says: "The era of smart mobile devices has arrived and with it comes the need for application processors that can deliver the highest graphics performance and experience with true on-the-go mobility. The wide adoption of tablets has also created strong consumer demand at an exponential growth rate for GPU integration across a range of mobile, embedded, consumer and automotive platforms.

"Our leadership in performance, features, customer support, low power and integration in our products is the driving force behind everything we do at Vivante to align our core competencies with the market. Freescale's focus on best-in-class GPU performance with i.MX 6 creates a natural match between our companies and engineering organizations. Vivante is proud to be a key supplier to Freescale and their broad array of leading edge customers readying i.MX 6 products whose displays will become a part of every consumer's life over the next few years."