ARM showcased the ARM Mali graphics processing unit (GPU) technology today at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, outlining its vision for the next generation of graphics processing and mobile gaming.

ARM?s collaborative approach to graphics acceleration solutions, combining the Mali complete graphics stack with the reach of ARM?s Partner ecosystem, has led to widespread adoption of Mali technology by 27 licensees to date. The company is delivering a wide range of powerful, easily configurable Mali graphics IP and working with silicon Partners, device manufacturers and content providers in gaming and graphics to bring a proliferation of Mali GPU-enabled mobile phones and consumer devices to market.

The Mali GPU family scales from the ultra-small Mali-55 to Mali-400 MP, the high-performance embedded multicore GPU IP which supports complex gaming applications at up to 1080p high-definition resolution.

The company was among the first to create a market for licensable GPU IP in mobile and has the most widely deployed 3-D software engine (ARM Mali-JSR184) as well as graphics hardware delivered to system-on-chip (SoC) vendors in a wide range of target market segments. Mali technology licensees already include Amlogic, Broadcom, EMP, FXI, LG, Micronas, Motorola, MTekvision, NXP, Pantech, RMI, Samsung, Siemens, Socle, ST, Telechips and Zoran.

Mali GPUs are easily integrated into ARM?s overall system design approach, where interconnect, cache, CPUs and software are incorporated into chip design pre-silicon to ensure media-rich experiences. There are currently more than 80 million Mali graphics technology-enabled phones in the marketplace, including the LGE Renoir handset, enabled by the Mali-55 GPU and ARM CPU, employing Mali GPU acceleration to drive the phone?s Flash-based user interface.

Complementary to the Mali graphics IP and part of the ARM multimedia portfolio is the flexible and scalable Mali-VE video encode and decode technology, for image resolutions from QCIF up to 1080p. Mali-VE solutions are also shipping in mass volume mobile handsets.

Mali processors deliver 2-D and 3-D graphics with 4x and 16x full scene anti-aliasing (FSAA) to "smooth" otherwise jagged lines without any noticeable drop in performance. In addition to providing content developers with programmable features in OpenGL ES 2.0, Mali products also support SVG and Flash through OpenVG for improved text, navigation, UI and Web-browsing experiences. Mali technology takes full advantage of complementary ARM products, including memory controllers, interconnect and peripherals, application and embedded processors, and Mali video engines, physical IP and embedded firmware to deliver a graphics experience on mobile phones, PDAs, GPS and STB devices.