Vivante Corporation

Vivante Corporation

Company type	Private
Industry	Semiconductor
Predecessor	GiQuila
Founded	2004 (2004)
Defunct	2015 (2015)
Fate	Acquired by VeriSilicon Holdings Co., Ltd.
Successor	VeriSilicon Holdings Co., Ltd.
Headquarters	Sunnyvale, California , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Embedded GPU architectures and IP cores
Parent	VeriSilicon Holdings Co., Ltd. (since 2015)

Vivante Corporation was a fabless semiconductor enterprise based in Sunnyvale, California, with its research and development facility located in Shanghai, China. Established in 2004 under the name GiQuila, the company initially concentrated on the portable gaming sector by developing a DirectX-compatible graphics processing unit (GPU) designed for PC gaming. In 2007, it underwent rebranding to become Vivante and redirected its efforts toward creating and licensing embedded GPU architectures. Its Mobile Visual Reality technology was licensed to semiconductor solution providers, catering to embedded computing sectors including mobile gaming, high-definition home entertainment, image processing, and automotive display solutions.

Vivante actively participated as a member of the HSA (Heterogeneous System Architecture) Foundation.

In 2015, VeriSilicon Holdings Co., Ltd. completed an all-stock acquisition of Vivante, incorporating its GPU intellectual property into VeriSilicon’s portfolio.

Products

Following its strategic shift, Vivante engineered GPU cores compliant with OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 and OpenVG specifications. Subsequently, VeriSilicon broadened compatibility to include Vulkan 1.0 and OpenVX 1.0 across various desktop and embedded operating platforms.

Vivante’s portfolio of 2D graphics and vector GPUs, branded as "Composition Processing Cores" (CPC), comprises models such as GC300, GC320, GC350, GP355 (an OpenVG core), GC200, and GC420. Notably, NXP integrated Vivante GPUs like the GC255 and GC7000Lite within its i.MX processor series aimed at automotive and industrial applications.

The company’s 3D GPU lineup consists of several series optimized for embedded use cases. Principal models include:

• GCNano series: Entry-level GPUs featuring vector cores suitable for low-power devices.
• GCx000 series: Mid-tier GPUs equipped with scalable shader cores supporting OpenGL ES 3.0.
• Vega series (GC3000 through GC7600): High-performance GPUs utilizing unified shader architecture compatible with advanced graphics APIs.
• GC7000 series: Flagship GPUs embedded in NXP i.MX8 processors and Marvell SoCs, delivering robust performance for edge computing and automotive markets.

Vivante’s GPUs support pipelined floating-point/integer operations at double precision (64-bit), single/high precision (32-bit), and half/medium precision (16-bit) levels for GPU compute tasks and HDR graphics processing. These capabilities contribute significantly to their competitive position in embedded graphics IP licensing.

The table below provides an overview of selected Vivante GPU models, detailing silicon die size, maximum clock frequencies, fill rates for triangles, vertices, pixels, texels, bus width specifications, API compatibility, GFLOPS performance metrics, and typical application domains within the semiconductor industry.

Series	Model	Shader Cores SP/Half	Silicon area (mm2)	Core Clock Max MHz	Shader Clock Max MHz	Fillrate Triangles (M/s)	Fillrate Vertices (G/s)	Fillrate Pixels (GP/s)	Fillrate Texels (GT/s)	Bus width (bit)	API Support (OpenGL ES / OpenVG / OpenCL / OpenGL / Direct3D)	GFLOPS SP/Half	Usage
GCNano Lite	1 (VEC-4)	0.3 @ 28nm	100–200	100–200	40	0.1	0.2	—	—	N/A / 1.1 / N/A / — / —	N/A	Low-power embedded devices
GC400	1 (VEC-4) 4 (VEC-1)	1.4 @ 65nm	250–375		19	0.094	0.188	32/16	2.0 / 1.1 EP / — / — / —	N/A	NXP i.MX6 SoloX
GC1000 (Vega-Lite)	2 (VEC-4) 8 (VEC-1)	3.5 @ 65nm	500–800		123	0.5	0.8	32/16	3.0 / 2.1 / 11 / — / —	16	Marvell PXA986; Actions ATM7029
GC4000	8 (VEC-4) 32 (VEC-1)	12.4		800 @ 28HPM		267	2	1.6	8-bit bus	3.0 / 2.1 / 11 / — / —	64	HiSilicon K3V2 SoC
GC7000 UltraLite	8 Vega cores			—	0.5	0.8	32/16	3.0 / 2.1 / 11 / — / —	16/32	Marvell PXA1908; NXP i.MX8M Nano
GC7000 Lite	16 Vega cores			—	1	1.6	32/16	3.0 / 2.1 / 11 / — / —	32/64	Marvell PXA1936; NXP i.MX8QuadPlus
GC7000	32 Vega cores			1067	2	6.4	32/16	3.0 / 2.1 / 11 / — / —	64/128	NXP i.MX8QuadMax
GC7600	256 Vega cores			—		25.6	32/16	3.0 / 2.1 / 11 / — / —	512/1024

Vivante’s business approach focused on licensing its GPU intellectual property to semiconductor manufacturers serving embedded sectors such as automotive infotainment systems, mobile devices, and consumer electronics—markets requiring efficient graphic solutions with adaptable performance levels.

The acquisition by VeriSilicon broadened Vivante’s international footprint within a larger corporate framework dedicated to silicon platform development and IP integration, strengthening its position in embedded GPU technology licensing and accelerating growth within the semiconductor ecosystem.

Adoption

By 2009, Vivante had secured a minimum of fifteen licensees integrating their GPU technology across twenty embedded system designs. Prominent application processors incorporating Vivante GPUs include:

• Marvell ARMADA SoCs
• NXP / Freescale i.MX Series
• Ingenic Semiconductor JZ4770
• ICT Godson-2H
• Rockchip RK2918
• Actions Semiconductor ATM7029
• HiSilicon K3V2
• InfoTM iMAP×210

These collaborations underscore Vivante's significant presence and strategic expansion within the semiconductor sector.

GC8000 Series

After VeriSilicon acquired Vivante, they introduced the Arcturus GC8000 series, which supports cutting-edge standards such as OpenCL 3.0, OpenVX 1.2, OpenVG 1.1, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenGL 4.0, and Vulkan 1.1. This lineup exemplifies VeriSilicon’s commitment to advancing GPU IP technology and solidifies its competitive positioning in the international market.

Linux support

Vivante contributed its Linux kernel driver under the GNU General Public License (GPL), foregoing the development of a proprietary Direct Rendering Manager (DRM)/KMS driver. The open-source Gallium3D-style driver etna_viv has demonstrated superior performance compared to Vivante's own user-space driver in certain benchmarks. It provides compatibility with Vivante’s GC400, GC800, GC1000, GC2000, GC3000, GC4000, and GC7000lite GPU families.

See also

• PowerVR – third-party available SIP block
• Mali – third-party licensed SIP block
• Adreno – exclusive to Qualcomm Snapdragon but potentially offered as SIP
• Tegra – mobile SoCs featuring graphics cores possibly licensed as SIP blocks
• Atom SoCs – Intel graphics cores not licensed externally
• AMD mobile APUs – AMD graphics cores unavailable for third-party licensing