ARM Community: Historical Look at the Makings of the Newest ARM Mali-T604 GPU - ARM Community

So how did we do it? How did we create the coolest new GPU and architecture? Well, a few people have asked me this recently, so I thought I’d pull together all my stories, videos and blogs into one place (or at least the ones I can mention publicly).

Recently we had The Travelling Salesman stop by on his epic journey around the Nordic start-up scene and I gave him a short interview on our story from founding a tech company right up to being acquired by ARM. You can find the video from his visit below and his blog entry. And no I don’t usually wear sunglasses around the office...



And if you want to know what I was hinting at and missed last week’s graphics announcement for the ARM® Mali™-T604, check out Jem Davies and Ian Smythe’s blogs.

The initial dream: GPU chip company
To think it's over 10 years since we started tinkering with GPU design while still students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, it sure doesn't feel that long. The dream we had then was to create the best of the best in GPU technology. Then, when we founded Falanx Microsystems in 2001, the business plan was to become a fabless chip provider for the PC graphics market - because that was what the cool kids wanted. We just needed to convince investors busy looking at their dotcom losses to bet an absurd amount of cash on a bunch of graduates with no experience, who wanted to enter a cut-throat business with astronomical start-up costs. It seems really odd that such a realistic plan could fail, doesn’t it? :-)

Mali: GPU architecture and philosophy for embedded graphics
But we knew we had some neat technical ideas and a very strong team so we managed to survive the complete initial failure. I must say I've been very fortunate to have worked so closely with some of the absolute best talents in the world. From that rocky start, Mali was born, a GPU architecture and philosophy for embedded graphics. Trivia: Mali means small in Croatian. And small is exactly what Mali GPUs were designed to be, together with a new business model based around IP licensing just as ARM had pioneered for CPUs.

Years of hard work and a lot of brick-by-brick building later, our humble start-up was acquired by ARM and taken to the next level.

Mali-T604: reminiscent of our early days
Why this look back on history you may ask? Well, last week we officially launched Mali-T604, the first GPU of an architecture that for me has brought back memories of our earliest aspirations. We now have in our hands the best of the best in graphics technology and are empowering our close partners to shake up the industry. I'm a proud man and grateful to the team who have worked so hard to make it come true. Thank you!

And while the new chips are cooking, sit back and enjoy the show put on by Mali-400 MP right here, right now :-)

What I can say now that ARM Mali-T604 is public?
Click here to watch my interview with Brian Fuller of EETimes.

Edvard Sørgård, Consultant Graphics Architect, ARM, is based in Trondheim, Norway. Ever since Edvard poked his first Commodore 64 balloon sprite he has been completely fascinated by computer graphics and hardware. Years later at university, he met a team of like-minded people and founded Falanx, the GPU company that ARM later snatched up to kick-start its hardware graphics offerings. These days, Edvard works on where to take Mali graphics next, while spending too much of his pocket money on Mali-powered devices.