Mobile and Embedded Multimedia Market Momentum Continues Says Imagination

LONDON, Nov. 8, 2010 -- Announcing today that its partners have now shipped over 400m devices cumulatively incorporating its multimedia SoC (System on Chip) IP cores, Imagination Technologies, a leading multimedia and communications technologies company, says that it foresees the total addressable market (TAM) for SoCs incorporating mobile and embedded graphics and video acceleration engines will exceed 3 billion units per annum within five years.

Imagination says that the mobile and embedded multimedia market is set for further growth with most categories of devices ultimately needing high performance, low power graphics and video for a broad range of applications including user interface, gaming, personal navigation, internet content and video telephony, as well as a growing range of high performance non-graphics related algorithms using general purpose graphics processor (GP-GPU) capabilities. Imagination continues to deliver leading edge technologies to both drive and ride these trends.

Imagination made its name by foreseeing the rise of mobile multimedia, where its POWERVR technology for OpenGL, OpenGL ES, OpenCL and other APIs is the de facto standard in embedded and mobile with over 70% market share.

Over 70 SoCs incorporating POWERVR SGX graphics are in design or production today; and more than 10 SoCs utilizing multi-processor POWERVR SGX MP cores are currently in design or in silicon. Chips based on Imagination’s POWERVR Series5XT MP (multi-processor) graphics cores will be demonstrated in December 2010 at an Imagination event in Japan, delivering unprecedented levels of mobile graphics performance for use in next generation devices.

In the tradition of earlier POWERVR families the next generation POWERVR Series6 graphics architecture, code named ‘Rogue’, will continue to drive the market by delivering the best industry metrics in performance per mm2 and performance per mW. This technology has already been selected by multiple tier one partners, with more engagements in the pipeline. Details of next generation POWERVR Series6 technology will be announced in due course.

Imagination CEO Hossein Yassaie says: “The mobile and embedded multimedia market continues to build momentum but there is much more to come. Driven by customer demand for advanced graphics, and the debut of GP-GPU APIs like OpenCL, The compute density of GPUs in mobile and embedded devices is set to increase dramatically. Many of our key ecosystem developer partners have commented on the significant advantages of targeting the 400m and growing installed base of POWERVR graphics powered devices, thanks to the benefits of consistent and reliable behavior of their advanced graphics applications on such a wide range of platforms alongside the support of our applications engineers.”

Continued Yassaie: “HD Video acceleration will need to deliver both high quality 2D and stereoscopic 3D and multi-stream multi-standard capabilities for both decode and encode functions. These are set to become essential features in these devices as the revolution in video content delivery, social networking and video telephony continues to accelerate.”

Imagination’s technology is shipped in mobile devices from brands including: Apple, Archos, Motorola, HTC, RIM, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo and Samsung.

Imagination’s ENSIGMA UCC multi-standard broadcast radio and TV communications and connectivity technologies have also now shipped in tens of millions of devices, reflecting Imagination’s success in deployment of its ever broadening IP portfolio. A fourth generation of the company’s ENSIGMA UCC technology will debut early in 2011 and is already available for licensing to lead partners. Imagination has also continued to expand its META processors, adding further IP platforms for applications including digital audio and an upgraded range of high performance hardware multi-threaded processor cores with powerful 32-bit DSP capabilities.

Imagination will be debuting and demonstrating its latest IP cores for mobile phone multimedia, handheld multimedia, home consumer, mobile computing and in-car electronics at leading industry events world-wide, including:

Embedded Technology 2010, Yokohama, Japan, December 1-3
Siggraph Asia 2010, Seoul, Korea, December 15-18
CES 2011, Las Vegas, USA, January 6-9
MWC 2011, Barcelona, Spain, February 14-17
GDC 2011, San Francisco, USA, February 28-March 4
Eurographics 2011, Llandudno, UK, April 11-15
ESC Silicon Valley 2011, San Jose, USA, May 2-5

About Imagination Technologies

Imagination Technologies Group plc (LSE:IMG) – a global leader in multimedia and communication technologies – creates and licenses market-leading processor cores for graphics, video, multi-threaded embedded processing/DSP and multi-standard communications applications. These silicon intellectual property (IP) solutions for systems-on-chip (SoC) are complemented by platform level IP and services, a strong array of software tools and drivers and extensive developer and middleware ecosystems. Target markets include mobile phone, handheld multimedia, home consumer entertainment, mobile and low-power computing, and in-car electronics. Its licensees include many of the leading semiconductor and consumer electronics companies. Imagination has corporate headquarters in the United Kingdom, with sales and R&D offices worldwide. See: www.imgtec.com.

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