LONDON – HiSilicon Technologies Co. Ltd. (Shenzhen, China) has licensed a range graphics processing units (GPUs), including the Mali-400 and Mali-T658, from ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England). ARM claimed that Mali combined with its Cortex processor cores is most energy efficient way to build "richer" user experiences.
The Mali GPU license deal follows on from a similar one made recently by HiSilicon with Imagination Technologies Group plc (see
Imagination signs HiSilicon to use PowerVR GPUs), that included Imagination's PowerVR Series 6 family. HiSilicon, effectively a chip making arm of telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., has also licensed graphics cores from Vivante Corp. (Sunnyvale, Calif.), ranked as the number two GPU licensor by Jon Peddie Research.
ARM said that one size of GPU performance will no longer be able to address the high number of applications that demand breathtaking graphics performance, such as 3D graphics, photo enhancement, console level gaming as well as more intuitive interfaces, including voice and gesture recognition.
HiSilicon is adding its Mali licensing to a previously licensed broad licensing of ARM Cortex processor licensing for use in next-generation equipment. The Mali architecture's support for GPU computation will enable HiSilicon to open up use-cases beyond traditional graphics processing, including computational photography, image-processing and augmented reality.
"Mass deployment of heterogeneous computing platforms is becoming more of a reality and I see ARM technology providing a unique advantage to address the needs of smart terminals through to the cloud," said George Yiu, head of the processor business unit at HiSilicon, in a statement issued by ARM.
"By being able to harness and optimize the performance that will be possible through ARM’s energy-efficient Cortex processors and Mali GPUs, HiSilicon will be able to provide consumers with richer user experiences in the most energy-efficient way," said Simon Segars, general manager of the processor and physical IP divisions at ARM, in the same statement.
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