Vivante Corporation Explained

Vivante Corporation
Location City:	Sunnyvale, California
Location Country:	United States
Products:	Semiconductor intellectual property
Parent:	VeriSilicon Holdings Co., Ltd.

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 (mm^2)	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							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		11	3	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]		1.2optional	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
	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	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 NXP i.MX 8QuadPlus NXP i.MX 8QuadNXP 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 (mm^2)	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:

• Marvell ARMADA range of SoCs^[33]
• NXP / Freescale i.MX Series^[34]
• Ingenic Semiconductor Jz4770^[35]
• ICT Godson-2H^{[36] [37]}
• Rockchip RK2918
• Actions Semiconductor ATM7029
• HiSilicon K3V2
• InfoTM iMAP×210^[38]

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

See main article: article. 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

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2013-12-20 . HSA Foundation home page . https://web.archive.org/web/20131220214356/http://hsafoundation.com/ . 2013-12-20.
2. Web site: 2015-10-12 . VeriSilicon to Acquire Vivante Corporation in All-Stock Transaction . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151026015759/http://www.vivantecorp.com/index.php/en/media-article/news/303-20151012-verisilicon-to-acquire-vivante.html . October 26, 2015 . 2015-10-14 . Vivante Corporation . mdy-all.
3. http://www.verisilicon.com/IPPortfolio_2_112_2_VivanteVisionIP.html VeriSilicon: Embedded Vivante Dedicated Vision IP
4. Web site: Composition Processing Cores (CPC).
5. Web site: Vivante GC300 - ChipEstimate.com IP Catalog. www.chipestimate.com.
6. Web site: Vivante GC350 - ChipEstimate.com IP Catalog. www.chipestimate.com.
7. Web site: Recording Not Found. cc.readytalk.com.
8. Web site: GPUs Comparison: ARM Mali vs Vivante GCxxx vs PowerVR SGX vs Nvidia Geforce ULP. cnxsoft. January 19, 2013.
9. http://cache.freescale.com/files/training/doc/dwf/DWF13_AMF_CON_T1025.pdf 2D and 3D Graphics in Freescale Devices
10. Web site: i.MX8 Factsheet. NXP. NXP. 6 October 2016.
11. Web site: "Vivante Vega 3D Technology", section "Unified Shader Architecture".
12. Web site: Vivante GPU « GPU Talk.
13. Web site: Vivante GC200 - ChipEstimate.com IP Catalog. www.chipestimate.com.
14. http://kyokojap.myweb.hinet.net/gpu_gflops/ Mobile GPU (Vivante Graphics ...)
15. Web site: Vivante GC400 - ChipEstimate.com IP Catalog. www.chipestimate.com.
16. https://web.archive.org/web/20130116042712/http://www.vivantecorp.com/Product_Brief.pdf Vivante Product Brief
17. Web site: Company Profile for Vivante Corporation. August 1, 2008. www.businesswire.com.
18. Web site: Vivante GC800 - ChipEstimate.com IP Catalog. www.chipestimate.com.
19. Web site: Vivante shipping GPU cores designed to support the latest OpenGL ES 3.0 specification . September 13, 2014.
20. Web site: Vivante GPU (Freescale i.MX6).
21. Web site: Vivante GC860 GPU Specs - GadgetVersus. gadgetversus.com.
22. Web site: i.MX6SDL GC880 performance. - NXP Community. community.nxp.com. July 31, 2015 .
23. Web site: Vivante GC1000 - ChipEstimate.com IP Catalog. www.chipestimate.com.
24. Web site: Marvell PXA986 Technical Specifications . September 25, 2013 . https://archive.today/20130925124342/http://system-on-a-chip.findthedata.org/l/161/Marvell-PXA986 . September 25, 2013 . dead . mdy-all .
25. Web site: GPGPU - Vivante Corporation. www.vivantecorp.com.
26. Web site: S32V234 Vision and Sensor Fusion Processor Family-NXP. www.nxp.com.
27. Web site: Marvell ARMADA Mobile PXA1928 SoC Features Four Cortex A53 Cores, Vivante GC5000 GPU, and LTE. cnxsoft. February 26, 2014.
28. Web site: Vivante Unveils Details About GC7000 Series GPU IP Family. cnxsoft. April 19, 2014.
29. Web site: The Linley Group - Marvell Extends LTE Lineup. www.linleygroup.com.
30. Web site: GFXBench - Unified cross-platform 3D graphics benchmark database. The cross-platform performance site.
31. NXP Accelerates Edge Computing Revolution. Inc. NXP USA. 2019-02-26. GlobeNewswire News Room. 2019-09-06.
32. Vivante Corporation Signs 15th GPU Licensee . June 8, 2009 . July 8, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091120024258/http://www.vivantecorp.com/licensee.html . November 20, 2009.
33. Vivante GPUs Power Marvell ARMADA Application Processors . October 27, 2009 . February 1, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091106192143/http://www.vivantecorp.com/mrvl.html . November 6, 2009.
34. Vivante GPU IP Cores Power the Latest Freescale i.MX 6 Series of Application Processors . April 26, 2011 . July 31, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160810041402/http://www.vivantecorp.com/index.php/en/media-article/news/121-vivante-gpu-ip-cores-power-the-latest-freescale-i-mx-6-series-of-application-processors.html . August 10, 2016.
35. Vivante GPU Core Brings Android 3.0 Honeycomb Support to Ingenic's Latest JZ4770 Application Processor . June 13, 2011 . December 13, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120603105014/http://www.vivantecorp.com/ingenic.html . June 3, 2012 . dead . mdy-all.
36. Chinese Academy of Sciences Selects Vivante as GPU Partner for Netbooks . June 29, 2009 . December 13, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091120024001/http://www.vivantecorp.com/ICT.html . November 20, 2009.
37. Web site: Guess what is ready for tape out: It has a MIPS core and a GPU from Vivante . April 28, 2011 . December 13, 2011.
38. Web site: 盈方微电子股份有限公司 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150120082048/http://www.infotmic.com.cn/x210 . 2015-01-20 . 2015-10-06 . InfoTM.
39. Web site: Verisilicon Arcturus GC8000 series . https://web.archive.org/web/20200604073701/http://www.verisilicon.com/en/IPPortfolio/GPUArcturusGraphicsIP . 2020-06-04.
40. Web site: Open-Source Vivante Driver In Some Cases Outperforming Proprietary Driver.
41. Web site: etna_pipe is currently compatible with at least the following GC chips. . October 29, 2022 .