Amlogic

Amlogic Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	Fabless semiconductor Consumer electronics
Founded	Santa Clara, California, USA 1995
Headquarters	Santa Clara, California, USA
Area served	Worldwide, but primarily China
Key people	John Zhong (CEO)
Products	AML8726-MX
Number of employees	540 (2013)
Website	www.amlogic.com
Footnotes / references [1][2]

Amlogic (sometimes spelled AMLogic) is an American technology company, originally founded in the US as Amlogic Inc.^[2] and is predominantly focused on designing and selling SoC (System on Chip) integrated circuits.^[2] Like most fabless companies in the industry, the company outsources the actual manufacturing of its chips to third-party independent chip manufacturers such as TSMC. Its main target applications as of 2014 are entertainment devices such as Android-based TV and IPTV/OTT set-top boxes, media dongles, smart TVs and tablets.^[1][2] It has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Santa Clara, California.^[3]

The company was founded in 1995 in Silicon Valley.^[2] It developed Video CD player chips and later chips for DVD players and other applications involving MPEG2 decoding.^[4] Amlogic was involved in the creation of the HVD (High-Definition Versatile Disc) standard promoted in China as an alternative to DVD video disks used in DVD players.^[5] The company was a player in the developing Chinese tablet processor market since 2010-2013.^[6][7]

Amlogic is an ARM licensee^[8][9] and uses the ARM architecture in the majority of its products as of 2014. According to a joint press release with ARM in 2013, it was the first company to use ARM's Mali-450 GPU in a configuration with six cores or more.^[10]

Products

Tablet computer SoC

AML8726 family

• Amlogic AML8726-M - Legacy single core ARM Cortex A9-based SoC with ARM Mali-400 GPU released in 2011, with a 16-bit DRAM interface and manufactured on a 65 nm process.^[6][11]
• Amlogic AML8726-M3 - Legacy single-core ARM Cortex A9-based SoC with ARM Mali-400 GPU, released in 2012, with a 16-bit DRAM interface and manufactured on a 45 nm process.^[12]
• Amlogic MX (also known as AML8726-M6) - Dual-core ARM Cortex A9-based SoC with ARM Mali-400 MP2 GPU, released in 2012 on a 40 nm process.^[13][14]

M8 family (announced 2013)

• Amlogic M802 (originally called AML8726-M8) - Quad-core ARM Cortex A9-based SoC with ARM Mali-450 MP6 GPU^[10][15] (although listed as an octa-core GPU on Amlogic's website)^[13] running at 600 MHz.^[16] Supports 4GB DRAM and 4K2K display output. 64-bit DRAM interface, manufactured on a 28 nm HPM process.^[17]
• Amlogic M801 - Similar to M802 but with DRAM limited to 2GB and display output limited to 1080p.^[13][17]

• Amlogic M805 - Quad-core ARM Cortex-A5-based SoC with Mali-450 MP2 GPU in a reduced-size 12mm x 12 mm LFBGA package.^[13][17]

The M801/802 uses a new version of ARM's Cortex A9 core (A9r4) that theoretically allows for higher clock speeds and lower power consumption compared to older versions of the Cortex A9 core such as the A9r3 used in Rockchip's RK3188.^[17]

Originally scheduled to be in production as early as the middle of 2013^[18] in the form of the AML8726-M8, as of April 2014 only one tablet (Onda V975M)^[19] has been announced using a chip from the M8 family.

A few manufacturers have shown Android TV boxes using the M802 (Shenzhen Tomato Technology,^[15] Tronsmart,^[20] Eny Technology^[20] and GeniaTech^[21]). It has been noted that some devices using the M802 may run hot and use a heatsink for cooling.^[15] This is common among other popular OTT set top boxes such as the Amazon FireTV which uses a metal shell to disperse heat, much like a heatsink would.^[22]

Media player SoCs (S8 family)

Amlogic also offers SoC products (S802, S805, and S812) specifically targeting Android TV boxes and OTT set-top boxes (which are variations of similar SoCs in the M series targeting tablets).^[23]

• Amlogic S802 - Similar to M802, quad-core ARM Cortex A9-based SoC with ARM Mali-450 MP6 GPU.^[16][23]
• Amlogic S805 - A low cost SoC similar to M805 with quad-core ARM Cortex A5-based SoC with Mali-450 MP2 GPU^[24] running at 500 MHz,^[16] with hardware support for HEVC/H.265 decoding up to 1080p.^[23]
• Amlogic S812 - Quad-core ARM Cortex A9-based SoC with ARM Mali-450 MP6 GPU running at 600 MHz^[16] with hardware support for HEVC/H.265 decoding up to 4K.^[23]

Products using Amlogic's S802 include Xiaomi's Mi Box Pro,^[25] Baidu's Shadow Stick 3,^[26] Tronsmart's Vega Elite S89,^[27] and the MINIX NEO X8-H.^[28]

Products using Amlogic's S805 SoC, which provides a low-cost solution for supporting HEVC/H.265 playback, include MXQ S85,^[29] RikoMagic MK05^[30] MINIX NEO X6,^[31] and Hardkernel's ODROID-C1 development board.^[24]

Products using Amlogic's latest S812 SoC include MINIX NEO X8-H Plus^[28] and RikoMagic MK12.^[30]

Media player SoCs (S9 family)

First 64-bit Amlogic Products lineup

• 64bit CPU S905
• 64bit CPU S905X
• 64bit CPU S905D

• 64bit CPU S912

All of them are high performance Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 (up to 2.0 Ghz). S905, S905X and S905D are utilizing 5-core core Mali 450MP GPU while S912 is utilizing Mali T820 MP3 GPU. Devices based on S905 are already in the market running Android 5.1, they are usually paired with 2GB or 3GB DDR3 RAM, 16/32/64GB Flash Mem, they have features such as a Gigabit Lan and Dual band 2.4G/5G A/C WiFi, support 4K@60fps H.265 hardware decoding and several other high end codecs and formats.

S905X is scheduled to be released in Q1 2016 while S905D and S912 are scheduled for Q2 2016. All three of SoCs will have Android Marshmallow and Buildroot Linux SDKs released.

Other products

The Amlogic MX, S802 and S805 SoCs are also targeted at media dongles.^[32]

Amlogic also offers SoCs targeting smart TVs, including M6L, M6C, M6D and T866.^[33]

Amlogic S812 are present in the new G-Box Q2 from Matricom. The older chip S802 is present in the G-Box Q.

Markets and sales

Amlogic does not publish sales or financial information on its website.

The company is listed as a client of several venture capital firms.^[34][35]

In the market for SoCs targeting Chinese tablet manufacturers and manufacturers of Android media players, TV boxes and media dongles, it faces competition primarily from Rockchip, Allwinner Technology, Actions Semiconductor, MediaTek, Intel and Realtek.^{[36][37][38][39]} Amlogic was reported to be fourth largest application processor supplier for Chinese tablets in 2012.^[7] For Q2 2014, Amlogic was reported to be the fifth largest supplier, after Rockchip, MediaTek, Allwinner and Actions Semiconductor.^[40] Chinese SoC suppliers that do not have cellular baseband technology are at a disadvantage compared to companies such as MediaTek that also supply the smartphone market as white-box tablet makers increasingly add phone functionality to their products.^[41]

In 2011, the AML8726-M was selected as one of the "hottest" processors by EE Times China,^[6] while in 2012, the AML8726-MX won EE Times-China's Processor of the Year award.^[42]

Open source commitment

Amlogic maintains a website^[43] dedicated to providing source code for the Linux kernel and Android SDK supporting Amlogic chips and reference designs. The Linux kernel source code is freely available, and has recently (as of April 2014) been updated to support certain chips in the M8 family as well as the older MX family, with Android versions up to 4.4 (KitKat) being supported (based on Linux kernel version 3.10.x). However, the Android SDK requires a NDA and is only available to business partners. The source code includes Linux kernel 3.10.10, U-Boot, Realtek and Broadcom Wi-Fi drivers, NAND drivers, “TVIN” drivers, and kernel space GPU drivers for the Mali-400/450 GPU.^[44] XBMC/Kodi Amlogic S805 / M805 / S806 / M806 / S812 Android video decoding compatibility list: http://kodi.wiki/view/Android_hardware#Compatible_chipsets

References

1. "Amlogic website main page". Amlogic. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
2. "Company Overview of Amlogic Inc.". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
3. "Amlogic website contact page". Amlogic. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
4. "Amlogic Profile". Procure International, Inc. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
5. "Standards of Power? Technology, Institutions, and Politics in the Development of China’s National Standards Strategy" (PDF). The National Bureau of Asian Research. p. 22. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
6. "EE Times-China 2011 Awards". Global Sources. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
7. "China Fabless: Allwinner's secret to tablet IC success". EE Times. 2013-04-09. p. 2. Retrieved 2014-05-24.
8. "AMLogic - ARM Connected Community". ARM Connected Community. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
9. "AMLogic - ARM Licensee". ARM. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
10. "Amlogic Answers the UHD Challenge with Landmark Implementation of ARM Mali-450 MP6 GPU". Business Wire. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
11. "Amlogic AML8726-M page on PDAdb.net". PDAdb.net. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
12. "Amlogic AML8726-M3 page on PDAdb.net". PDAdb.net. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
13. "Amlogic tablet computer products". Amlogic. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
14. "Amlogic AML8726-M6 page on PDAdb.net". PDAdb.net. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
15. "M8 Android TV Box Powered by AMLogic S802 (Unboxing)". CNXSoft. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
16. "GPU GFLOPS". GPU GFLOPS. 2014-07-29. Retrieved 2014-12-04.
17. "AMLogic Processor Roadmap: Quad core Cortex A9 (M8), and 64-bit ARM processors (M9)". CNXSoft. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
18. "AMLogic To Unveil 4 Core Cortex A9 AML8726-M8 SoC with 8 Core Mali GPU". CNXSoft. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
19. "Onda V975M quad core china tablet review". ChinaMobileMag International. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
20. "4K2K Android TV Boxes with AMLogic S802 SoC – Tronsmart Vega S89 and Eny ES8". CNXSoft. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
21. "Geniatech ATV1800 Android TV Box To Feature AMLogic Quad Core Processor & Android 4.3". CNXSoft. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
22. "Amazon FireTV Teardown". Techrepublic. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
23. "Amlogic IP/OTT STB products". Amlogic. Retrieved Apr 22, 2014.
24. "ODROID-C1". Hardkernel. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
25. "Xiaomi Unveils $64 Mi Box Pro TV Box Powered by Amlogic S802 SoC". CNXSoft. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
26. "Baidu Release Quad-core Amlogic S802 TV Box". Cngadget. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
27. "Tronsmart Vega S89 available on Amazon". Amazon. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
28. "MINIX NEO X8-H Plus Supports H.265 4K UHD Video, Gigabit Ethernet with Amlogic S812 Processor". CNXSoftware. 2014-11-20. Retrieved 2014-12-04.
29. "MXQ S85 Android TV Box Based on Amlogic S805 is Available for $50". CNXSoftware. 2014-09-17. Retrieved 2014-12-04.
30. "Rikomagic MK80, MK12, MK05, V5 Android TV Boxes and Sticks Are Now Available for Purchase". CNXSoftware. 2014-11-27. Retrieved 2014-12-04.
31. "MINIX NEO X6 Media Hub Review". CNXSoftware. 2014-11-18. Retrieved 2014-12-04.
32. "Media Dongle SoCs". Amlogic. Retrieved 2014-12-04.
33. "Smart TV SoCs". Amlogic. Retrieved 2014-12-04.
34. "Huahong International Portfolio (Amlogic page)". Huahong International (USA) LLC. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
35. "IDG Capital partners page (semiconductor companies)". IDG Captal Partners. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
36. "What to Expect from AllWinner, Rockchip, Mediatek, and Other Silicon Vendors at CES 2014". CNXSoft. 2014-01-04. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
37. "Mediatek to Benefit from Budget Device Market in 2014, Research Shows". TechNews. 2014-04-28. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
38. "Tablet Processor Chip Market to Surge by 23 Percent This Year, Attracting Intel and Chinese Rivals". EECatalog. 2014-01-27. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
39. "Review of Realtek RTD1195 Based M-195 Android Media Player". CNXSoft. 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
40. "Digitimes Research: China sees increased tablet AP shipments in 2Q14". DigiTimes. 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2014-07-28.
41. "Digitimes Research: Over 50% white-box tablets to come with phone functions in 2H14; MediaTek to benefit most". DigiTimes. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
42. "EE Times-China 2012 Awards". Global Sources. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
43. "Amlogic OpenLinux website". Amlogic. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
44. "Amlogic GPL Source Code Release – Kernel 3.10, U-Boot, and drivers (Wi-Fi, NAND, TVIN, Mali GPU)". CNXSoft. Retrieved 2014-04-22.

External links

• Amlogic company website