Vivante’s graphics used in Marvell’s cell phone processors

Vivante said today that its graphics components are being used in the latest cell phone processors being created by chip maker Marvell.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Marvell will use Vivante’s 3-D graphics components in the newly announced Armada family of applications processors, which handle the non-radio computing functions in a cell phone. Marvell licensed Vivante’s designs for low-power but powerful 3-D graphics and used the technology as a subcomponent within its larger Armada chips.
Wei-Jin Dai, chief executive of Vivante, said that the new Armada chips with Vivante graphics should enable a new generation of gadgets with the ability to play PC-like multimedia experiences with games, graphics and video. The new chips can display video at 1080p resolution, or as good as a typical high-definition TV. The Armada chips will be able to run Flash applications, play Blu-ray movies, and other media functions on a wide variety of platforms.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Vivante has invented its ScalarMorphic graphics processing unit (GPU) designs to deliver high-end graphics with only minimal assistance from a central processing unit (CPU). Vivante has licensed its graphics chip designs to more than 20 companies for use in a wide range of applications, from smart phones to car displays to printers. Vivante has an engineering center in Shanghai and has 70 employees.
This raises the question: what the heck is this? Graphics chip companies just don’t get formed anymore. Back in the 1990s, there were around 100 graphics chip makers created to take advantage of 3-D graphics. Of those, only Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, and Nvidia survived. A couple of small graphics startups have formed in the last year, such as Lucid Logix, which marries Nvidia and AMD graphics chips in a single computer. But this is really the domain of multibillion dollar companies. It will be interesting to see how much headway Vivante can make with a licensing model, where it doesn’t build its own chips but licenses its designs to others. At least it has chosen a good niche, since it’s not easy to create graphics chips that are both powerful and operate on a small amount of power so that they can be used in portable devices where battery life is a priority.
Vivante was founded in 2004 and has raised about $15 million in two rounds. It has been profitable since 2007. Its competitors are Imagination Technologies in the United Kingdom and ARM, which acquired the Norwegian startup Falanx in 2006 to create cell phone graphics designs. Other rivals include Qualcomm (though Qualcomm is also a potential customer) and Nvidia.