Company:Vivante Corporation

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Vivante Corporation
Founded2004; 20 years ago (2004)
Headquarters
Sunnyvale, California
,
ProductsSemiconductor intellectual property
ParentVeriSilicon Holdings Co., Ltd.
Websiteverisilicon.com/en/IPPortfolio/VivanteGPUIP

Vivante Corporation was a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with an R&D center in Shanghai, China. The company was founded in 2004 as GiQuila and focused on the portable gaming market. The company's first product was a DirectX-compatible graphics processing unit (GPU) capable of playing PC games. In 2007, GiQuila changed its name to Vivante and shifted the direction of the company to the design and licensing of embedded graphics processing unit designs. The company licensed its Mobile Visual Reality to semiconductor solution providers, serving embedded computing markets for mobile gaming, high-definition home entertainment, image processing, and automotive display and entertainment.

Vivante used to be named as a contributor to the HSA (Heterogeneous System Architecture) Foundation.[1]

In 2015, VeriSilicon Holdings Co., Ltd. acquired Vivante Corporation in an all-stock transaction.[2]

Products

After its business pivot, Vivante developed a range of GPU cores that are compliant with the OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 standards as well as the OpenVG standard. Created by VeriSilicon support for the Vulkan API 1.0 and for OpenVX 1.0 is provided for at least 6 major desktop and embedded operating systems.[3]

2D graphics products & Vector GPUs, summarized by the vendor under the term "Composition Processing Cores" (CPC),[4] sometimes mentioned with the feature of single pass composition blending capability of 8 or higher, are the GC300,[5] GC320, GC350[6] and GP355 (OpenVG core[7])with the additional listing of GC200 and GC420.[8] NXP further mentions GC255 in a presentation for their i.MX models.[9] The NXP i.MX8 series will come with 2 units of the GC7000Lite or GC7000 vector processor.[10] For 3D graphics products please see the table below.

Legend for the notes in below listing:

  • Pipelined FP/INT double (64-bit), single/high (32-bit) and half precision/medium (16-bit) precision IEEE formats for GPU Compute and HDR graphics, Source:[11]
Series Model Date Shader Cores
SP/Half (mode)
Silicon area (mm2) Core Clock
Max in MHz
Shader Clock
Max in MHz
Fillrate Bus width
(bit)
API (version) Shader GFLOPS
(High=SP / Medium=Half)
Usage
M triangles/s G vertices/s (GP/s) (GT/s) OpenGL ES OpenVG OpenCL OpenGL Direct3D
GCNano GCNano Lite 1 (VEC-4) 0.3 @ 28 nm 100–200

@ 28HPM

100–200

@ 28HPM

40 0.1 0.2 N/A 1.1 N/A N/A N/A 3.2?
GCNano 1 (VEC-4) 0.5 @ 28 nm 200 @ 28HPM 200 @ 28HPM 40 0.1 0.2 2.0 3.2[12] STM32MP157
GCNano Ultra
(Vega-Lite)
GCNano Ultra 1 (VEC-4) 1 @ 28 nm 400 @ 28HPM 800 @ 28HPM 80 0.2 0.4 1.2

optional

6.4 NXP i.MX8M Mini
GCNano Ultra3 1 (VEC-4) 1.6 @ 28 nm 400 @ 28HPM 800 @ 28HPM 80 0.2 0.4? 3.0 6.4?
GC200 GC200 0.57 @ 65 nm[13] 250 @ 65nmLP
375 @ 65nmG+
0.375 32/16 N/A N/A N/A N/A Jz4760[14]
GC400 GC400 1 (VEC-4)
4 (VEC-1)
1.4
2 @ 65 nm[15]
250 @ 65nmLP
375 @ 65nmG+
19 0.094 0.188 32/16 2.0[16] 1.1 EP[16] N/A 11 3[16] NXP i.MX6 SoloX: GC400T
GC500[17] 32/16 PXA920: GC530
GC600 GC600 1 (VEC-4)
4 (VEC-1)
32/16 1.2/1.1 3.0/2.1 11 CuBox
GC800 GC800 1 (VEC-4)
4 (VEC-1)
2.5
3.38 @ 65 nm[18]
800 @ 28HPM
250 @ 65nmLP
375 @ 65nmG+
1000 @ 28HPM 38 @ 65nmG+ 0.188 @ 65nmG+ 0.375 @ 65nmG+ 32/16 3.0[19] 1.2

optional

3.0/2.1 11 8 / 16[20] RK291x,
ATM7013, ATM7019
GC860 1 (VEC-4)
4 (VEC-1)
? @ 65nm[21] 444 35 0.3 32/16 3.0/2.1 11 Jz4770: GCW Zero NOVO7
GC880 1 (VEC-4)
4 (VEC-1)
35 0.1 0.266 32/16 3.0/2.1 11 3.2[22] NXP i.MX6 Solo and DualLite
GCx000 GC1000
(Vega-Lite)
2 (VEC-4)
8 (VEC-1)
3.5
4.26 @ 65 nm[23]
800 @ 28HPM
500 @ 65nmLP
750 @ 65nmG+
1000 @ 28HPM 123
58 @ 65nmG+
0.5
0.375 @ 65nmG+
0.8
0.75 @ 65nmG+
32/16 3.0/2.1 11 16 ATM7029: GC1000+,
Marvell PXA986,[24]
PXA988, PXA1088[14]
GC2000 4 (VEC-4)
16 (VEC-1)
6.9 800 @ 28HPM 1000 @ 28HPM 267 1 1.6 32/16 1.2 3.0/2.1 11 32 NXP i.MX6 Dual and Quad
GC4000 8 (VEC-4)
32 (VEC-1)
12.4[8] 800 @ 28HPM 1000 @ 28HPM 267 2 1.6 8 3.0/2.1 11 64 HiSilicon K3V2
Vega xX GC3000
(Vega 1X)
4/8 (VEC-4)
16/32 (VEC-1)
800 @ 28HPM 1000 @ 28HPM 267 1 1.6 8/4 3.0/2.1 11 32 / 64[25] NXP S32V234[26]
GC5000
(Vega 2X)
8/16 (VEC-4)
32/64 (VEC-1)
800 @ 28HPM 1000 @ 28HPM 267 1 1.6 32/16 3.0/2.1 11 64 / 128 Marvell PXA1928[27]
GC6000
(Vega 4X)
GC6400?
16/32 (VEC-4)
64/128 (VEC-1)
800 @ 28HPM 1000 @ 28HPM 533 4 3.2 32/16 3.0/2.1 11 128 / 256
GC7000
(Vega 8X)
[28]
GC7000 UltraLite
GC1500?[29]
8 Vega 0.5 0.8 32/16 3.0/2.1 11 16 / 32 Marvell PXA1908[30]NXP i.MX8M Nano[31]
GC7000 Lite
GC7000L?
16 Vega 1 1.6 32/16 3.0/2.1 11 32 / 64 Marvel PXA1936[29]
NXP i.MX 8QuadPlus
NXP i.MX 8Quad

NXP i.MX8M

GC7000 32 Vega 800 @ 28HPM 1000 @ 28HPM 1067 2 6.4 3.2 32/16 3.0/2.1 11 64 / 128 NXP i.MX 8QuadMax
GC7200 64 Vega 4 6.4 32/16 3.0/2.1 11 128 / 256
GC7400 128 Vega 8 12.8 32/16 3.0/2.1 11 256 / 512
GC7600 256 Vega 16 25.6 32/16 3.0/2.1 11 512 / 1024
GC8000 GC8000
Series Model Date Shader Cores
SP/Half (mode)
Silicon area (mm2) Core Clock
Max in MHz
Shader Clock
Max in MHz
Fillrate Bus width
(bit)
API (version) Shader GFLOPS
(High=SP / Medium=Half)
Usage
M triangles/s G vertices/s (GP/s) (GT/s) OpenGL ES OpenVG OpenCL OpenGL Direct3D

Adoption

They have announced that as of 2009 they have at least fifteen licensees who have used their GPUs in twenty embedded designs.[32] Application processors using Vivante GPU technology:

GC8000 Series

After Vivante was sold to VeriSilicon the Arcturus GC8000 series was released by VeriSilicon, which supports newer technologies such as OpenCL 3.0, OpenVX 1.2, OpenVG 1.1, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenGL 4.0 and Vulkan 1.1.[39]

Linux support

There are no plans on writing a new DRM/KMS driver kernel driver for the Vivante hardware, since Vivante previously put out their Linux kernel component under the GNU General Public License (GPL), instead of maintaining it as a proprietary blob. The free Gallium3D-style device driver etna_viv has surpassed Vivante's own proprietary user-space driver in some benchmarks.[40] It supports Vivante's product line of GC400 Series, GC800 Series, GC1000 Series, GC2000 Series, GC3000 Series, GC4000 Series, and GC7000lite.[41]

See also

  • PowerVR – available as SIP block to 3rd parties
  • Mali – available as SIP block to 3rd parties
  • Adreno – found only on Qualcomm Snapdragon, could be available as SIP block to 3rd parties
  • Tegra – family of SoCs for mobile computers, the graphics core could be available as SIP block to 3rd parties
  • Atom family of SoCs – with Intel graphics core, not licensed to 3rd parties
  • AMD mobile APUs – with AMD graphics core, not licensed to 3rd parties

References

  1. "HSA Foundation home page". 2013-12-20. http://hsafoundation.com/. 
  2. "VeriSilicon to Acquire Vivante Corporation in All-Stock Transaction". Vivante Corporation. 2015-10-12. http://www.vivantecorp.com/index.php/en/media-article/news/303-20151012-verisilicon-to-acquire-vivante.html. 
  3. VeriSilicon: Embedded Vivante Dedicated Vision IP
  4. "Composition Processing Cores (CPC)". http://www.vivantecorp.com/en/technology/composition.html. 
  5. "Vivante GC300 - ChipEstimate.com IP Catalog". https://www.chipestimate.com/log.php?from=%2Fdatasheet%2F18712%2FIP%2FGC300-Vivante%3Fs%3DVivante&logerr=1. 
  6. "Vivante GC350 - ChipEstimate.com IP Catalog". https://www.chipestimate.com/log.php?from=%2Fdatasheet%2F18713%2FIP%2FGC350-Vivante%3Fs%3DVivante&logerr=1. 
  7. "Recording Not Found". https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/playback/Playback.do?id=bs7x8t. 
  8. 8.0 8.1 cnxsoft (January 19, 2013). "GPUs Comparison: ARM Mali vs Vivante GCxxx vs PowerVR SGX vs Nvidia Geforce ULP". https://www.cnx-software.com/2013/01/19/gpus-comparison-arm-mali-vs-vivante-gcxxx-vs-powervr-sgx-vs-nvidia-geforce-ulp/. 
  9. 2D and 3D Graphics in Freescale Devices
  10. "i.MX8 Factsheet". NXP. http://www.nxp.com/files/32bit/doc/fact_sheet/IMX8FAMFS.pdf?fasp=1&WT_TYPE=Fact%20Sheets&WT_VENDOR=FREESCALE&WT_FILE_FORMAT=pdf&WT_ASSET=Documentation&fileExt=.pdf. 
  11. ""Vivante Vega 3D Technology", section "Unified Shader Architecture"". http://www.vivantecorp.com/en/technology/3d.html. 
  12. "Vivante GPU « GPU Talk". https://bensontao.wordpress.com/tag/vivante-gpu/. 
  13. "Vivante GC200 - ChipEstimate.com IP Catalog". https://www.chipestimate.com/log.php?from=%2Fip.php%3Fid%3D18711&logerr=1. 
  14. 14.0 14.1 Mobile GPU (Vivante Graphics ...)
  15. "Vivante GC400 - ChipEstimate.com IP Catalog". https://www.chipestimate.com/log.php?from=%2Fdatasheet%2F18715%2FIP%2FGC400-Vivante%3Fs%3DVivante&logerr=1. 
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 Vivante Product Brief
  17. "Company Profile for Vivante Corporation". August 1, 2008. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080801005033/en/Company-Profile-Vivante-Corporation. 
  18. "Vivante GC800 - ChipEstimate.com IP Catalog". https://www.chipestimate.com/log.php?from=%2Fdatasheet%2F18719%2FIP%2FGC800-Vivante%3Fs%3DVivante&logerr=1. 
  19. "Vivante shipping GPU cores designed to support the latest OpenGL ES 3.0 specification". http://www.khronos.org/news/permalink/vivante-shipping-gpu-cores-designed-to-support-the-latest-opengl-es-3.0-spe. 
  20. "Vivante GPU (Freescale i.MX6)". https://streamhpc.com/knowledge/sdks/vivante-gpu/. 
  21. "Vivante GC860 GPU Specs - GadgetVersus". https://gadgetversus.com/graphics-card/vivante-gc860-gpu-specs/. 
  22. "i.MX6SDL GC880 performance. - NXP Community". July 31, 2015. https://community.nxp.com/thread/360358. 
  23. "Vivante GC1000 - ChipEstimate.com IP Catalog". https://www.chipestimate.com/log.php?from=%2Fdatasheet%2F18720%2FIP%2FGC1000-Vivante%3Fs%3DVivante&logerr=1. 
  24. "Marvell PXA986 Technical Specifications". http://system-on-a-chip.findthedata.org/l/161/Marvell-PXA986. 
  25. "GPGPU - Vivante Corporation". http://www.vivantecorp.com/index.php/en/technology/gpgpu.html. 
  26. "S32V234 Vision and Sensor Fusion Processor Family-NXP". https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-based-processors-and-mcus/s32-automotive-platform/vision-processor-for-front-and-surround-view-camera-machine-learning-and-sensor-fusion-applications:S32V234. 
  27. cnxsoft (February 26, 2014). "Marvell ARMADA Mobile PXA1928 SoC Features Four Cortex A53 Cores, Vivante GC5000 GPU, and LTE". https://www.cnx-software.com/2014/02/26/marvell-armada-mobile-pxa1928-soc-features-four-cortex-a53-cores-vivante-gc5000-gpu-and-lte/. 
  28. cnxsoft (April 19, 2014). "Vivante Unveils Details About GC7000 Series GPU IP Family". https://www.cnx-software.com/2014/04/19/vivante-gc7000/. 
  29. 29.0 29.1 "The Linley Group - Marvell Extends LTE Lineup". http://www.linleygroup.com/newsletters/newsletter_detail.php?num=5259. 
  30. "GFXBench - Unified cross-platform 3D graphics benchmark database". http://gfxbench.com/. 
  31. Inc, NXP USA (2019-02-26). "NXP Accelerates Edge Computing Revolution". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). Retrieved 2019-09-06.
  32. "Vivante Corporation Signs 15th GPU Licensee" (Press release). June 8, 2009. Archived from the original on November 20, 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2009.
  33. "Vivante GPUs Power Marvell ARMADA Application Processors" (Press release). October 27, 2009. Archived from the original on November 6, 2009. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  34. "Vivante GPU IP Cores Power the Latest Freescale i.MX 6 Series of Application Processors" (Press release). April 26, 2011. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
  35. "Vivante GPU Core Brings Android 3.0 Honeycomb Support to Ingenic's Latest JZ4770 Application Processor" (Press release). June 13, 2011. Archived from the original on June 3, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2011.
  36. "Chinese Academy of Sciences Selects Vivante as GPU Partner for Netbooks" (Press release). June 29, 2009. Archived from the original on November 20, 2009. Retrieved December 13, 2011.
  37. "Guess what is ready for tape out: It has a MIPS core and a GPU from Vivante". April 28, 2011. http://semiaccurate.com/2011/04/28/guess-what-is-ready-for-tape-out/. 
  38. "盈方微电子股份有限公司". InfoTM. http://www.infotmic.com.cn/x210. 
  39. "Verisilicon Arcturus GC8000 series". http://www.verisilicon.com/en/IPPortfolio/GPUArcturusGraphicsIP. 
  40. "Open-Source Vivante Driver In Some Cases Outperforming Proprietary Driver". https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Etnaviv-2020-Driver-Progress. 
  41. "etna_pipe is currently compatible with at least the following GC chips". October 29, 2022. https://github.com/laanwj/etna_viv. 

External links