Vivante Intros Vega GPUs to Maximize OpenGL ES 3.0 Performance in Mass Market Android and Chrome Devices with Screens of Any Size

New Vega series IP cores to set the new standard for low power GHz GPU performance, API completeness and silicon cost savings in mainstream SOCs over previous generation cores

San Francisco, California – September 12, 2013 – Intel Developers Forum 2013 (#IDF13) - As the market for mobile devices continues to grow globally and the adoption of Google Android and Chrome OS has become pervasive, Vivante Corporation, provider of the world’s smallest, fastest and coolest GC (graphics and compute) series IP cores, today announced its new Vega IP product line that brings GPU performance, API completeness and silicon cost-savings to SOC manufacturers addressing the global market for high performance, battery-efficient mass market devices – from Wearables to Streaming TV Dongles to Tablets and Smartphones.

Leveraging seven years of architectural refinements learned from more than 100 Vivante partner mass market SOCs, Vega GPUs double graphics and compute performance over equivalent GC Series cores in the same mass market silicon footprint and provides support for the latest application programming interfaces (API), including OpenGL® ES 3.0 and OpenCL™ Full Profile. Vega IP cores will enable system on chip vendors to put the latest technologies into their products without compromising PPA (Power, Performance and Area) yet deliver high-quality user interface and app graphics and GPGPU compute on devices of any size. Vivante cores target a full range of products from tiny embedded Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and motion processors to large screen 4K/8K TVs.  

“Combined with the trend of embedding visual intelligence into all products regardless of form factor, size or shape, the GPU is at the epicenter of these market trends and the driver for product differentiation,” said Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research and known authority in graphics and multimedia. “The GPU vendor that can deliver the most complete solution in an optimized package will win. Looking at the Vega product line, Vivante has an opportunity to hit the sweet spot for mass market manufacturers by combining API compatibility with performance and design flexibility in a small silicon package.”

 About The Vega Product Line

Vega is optimized for Google™ Android and Chrome products that need tomorrow’s 3D and GPU Compute standards today. Silicon proven to have the smallest die area footprint, graphics performance boost, and scalability across the entire product line, Vega cores extend Vivante’s current leadership in bringing all the latest standards to mass market consumer electronics in the smallest silicon area. Current licensable products in the Vega series include Vega 1X, 2X, 4X and 8X, based on target performance and market requirements.

Vega Series brings a variety of GPU innovations to market that:

• Adds full OpenGL ES 3.0 hardware functionality in the same total silicon footprint as the previous OpenGL ES 2.0 design.
• Enables the GPU to run at speeds over 1 GHz, while reducing overall power consumption.
• Uses dynamic, reconfigurable shaders that support double, single and half precision formats.
• Leverages patented math units that work in the Logarithmic space to reduce area, power and bandwidth.
• Increases on-chip GPU processing for realistic, HDR rendering with Stream-Out geometry shaders and multi-way pipelines.
• Processes fast, immediate hidden surface removal (HSR) that cuts render processing requirements by an average of 30%.
• Saves power by up to 65 percent over previous GC cores through Vega DVFS voltage scaling and incremental low power architecture enhancements.
• Industry’s smallest graphics driver memory footprint to enable graphics and compute in DDR-cost constrained systems all the way to DDR-less MCU/MPUs.
• Proprietary Vivante Vega lossless compression that reduces on-chip bandwidth by an average of 3.2:1 and streamlines the graphics subsystem including the GPU, composition processor (CPC), interconnect and display and memory subsystems.
• Gives silicon vendors equivalent leading edge process performance in a cost effective mainstream process (e.g. Vivante partners in 40LP process technology can effectively compete with products in 28HPM).
• Vega utilizes the mass market proven Vivante unified driver architecture and SDK that supports industry-standard application programming interfaces* including OpenGL® ES 3.0, OpenGL®, OpenCL®, OpenVG®, Microsoft® DirectX® 11 (9_3), WebGL®, and Renderscript Compute / Filterscript.

“Vega allows mobile ecosystem hardware and software vendors to showcase their latest technologies across a large user base and keep innovation moving forward. Our goal when defining this new mass market product line was to enhance user experience on any device by accelerating the adoption of the latest visually stunning API features combined with OpenCL and Renderscript Compute/Filterscript,” said Wei-Jin Dai, Vivante President and CEO. “The initial product rollout of Vega was in the hugely successful Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 (Vega-Lite), which doubled graphics performance of its predecessor in half the die area. With design wins in 6 of the top 10** mobile OEMs, Vega builds on a robust foundation that continues to deliver the latest innovations to leading high volume products.”

“To succeed in the mass market smartphone and tablet segments, it is critical to deliver complete, high-performance silicon solutions that enable cutting-edge features at a competitive price point. Marvell’s ongoing collaboration with Vivante has enabled us to rapidly create and ship industry-leading communication processor products targeted at these fast-growing markets. The introduction of the Vega product line further enables us to provide compelling solutions for all global markets through our complete line-up of ARMADA ® Mobile communications processors,” said Ivan Lee, VP of Mobile Products at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc.

To learn more about Vivante’s technologies visit www.vivantecorp.com or contact info@vivantecorp.com.