The launch of Mate TV has made GPMI popular.
Recently, the release of Huawei Mate TV has attracted the attention of many technology enthusiasts and industry insiders. However, the interface protocol used in this TV was not announced at the press conference, and this "omission" has sparked extensive speculation. Previously, many netizens speculated that Huawei Mate TV might adopt and support the GPMI protocol. As this speculation spread, GPMI (General-Purpose Multimedia Interface) gradually came into the public view.
In November last year, GPMI released the industry standard (draft for comments), and it was officially released this year. This achievement is an important attempt by China in the field of laying out the next-generation multimedia interface solution.
01 DiiVA: An Early Exploration of Chinese Interface Standards with "Much Ado about Nothing"
Looking back at the development history of Chinese multimedia interface standards, GPMI is not the first exploration. In the early years, the industry launched DiiVA (Digital Interactive Interface for Video & Audio). In 2008, the China Video Industry Association jointly launched the DiiVA technology with domestic color TV enterprises. This technology has good performance, supporting a video bandwidth of 13.5Gbps and a mixed channel bandwidth of over 2Gbps. It can achieve the bidirectional transmission of uncompressed high-resolution audio and video, USB, Ethernet signals, and control instructions, and is also compatible with the HDCP 2.0 and DTCP-IP protocols. From a technical architecture perspective, DiiVA includes a transmission layer and a network layer, and also supports device path switching and mobile device charging functions. At that time, it was planned to be widely applied to various devices such as TVs, set-top boxes, and cameras.
In April 2009, the global press conference for the DiiVA 1.0 specification was grandly held in Guangzhou. Nine Chinese enterprises such as TCL, Hisense, and Skyworth, as well as international well-known manufacturers such as Samsung and Sharp, jointly participated. In the same year, the DiiVA Industrialization Promotion Center and the Authorized Testing Center were officially established. In terms of patent fees, an annual fee of $5,000 and a royalty of 2 cents per terminal were set. However, unfortunately, the DiiVA standard eventually fell into the embarrassing situation of "much ado about nothing". Tracing the root cause, China's market share in the relevant industries was too low at that time, lacking sufficient market voice and industrial influence to promote the widespread popularization and application of the DiiVA standard globally. This lesson also provided valuable experience for the subsequent development of GPMI.
02 Re-launching the Chinese Standard GPMI: Triple Breakthroughs in Technology, Policy, and Development Process
Now, times have changed, and China's position in the global technology industry landscape has undergone earth-shaking changes. Against this background, the Chinese industrial circle has made another effort, and GPMI has emerged as the times require. Hisilicon GPMI (General-Purpose Multimedia Interface), as an independently developed domestic video interface technology launched by Hisilicon Technologies Co., Ltd., was jointly developed by more than 50 leading enterprises such as Huawei, Skyworth, Hisense, and TCL, led by the Shenzhen 8K Ultra-High-Definition Video Industry Collaboration Alliance, and was officially released in April 2025. The R & D goal of GPMI is clear, aiming to solve the pain points of traditional multimedia interfaces, such as single function and diverse forms, to achieve the aggregated transmission of multiple streams such as audio and video signals, network connections, and control signals, and at the same time support the bidirectional control function, bringing users a more convenient and efficient multimedia usage experience.
During the development process of GPMI, the national policy has provided strong impetus. Seven departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have listed GPMI as the key research and development direction for high-speed interface core technologies, pointing out the direction for technological R & D and industrial development; the National Radio and Television Administration has accelerated the pilot verification of GPMI in scenarios such as set-top box integration through the "Ultra-High-Definition Audio-Visual Pioneer Action Plan", helping its rapid implementation and application. Moreover, local governments have also introduced precise support policies in combination with their own industrial advantages. Shanghai provides special support for the R & D of GPMI interface SoC chips, aiming to promote the synchronization of ultra-high-definition standards and chips; Shenzhen provides financial subsidies for terminal products supporting the GPMI standard and sets up a special fund to provide financial guarantee for enterprises participating in the GPMI industrial development; Hunan includes audio and video modules in the key research and development scope of AI chips, making efforts from both upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to promote the improvement of the GPMI industrial ecosystem.
Meanwhile, the industrial circle has also continuously promoted the progress of relevant standards. In 2019, the Ultra-High-Definition Interface Working Group was established by the Shenzhen International 8K Ultra-High-Definition Video Industry Collaboration Alliance, officially launching the R & D work of GPMI technology; in 2021, the draft for comments of the core group standard of GPMI was released, marking a phased achievement in the standard-setting work; in 2023, the first FPGA prototype was successfully launched, laying a solid foundation for subsequent productization; in 2024, GPMI achieved a milestone breakthrough. The draft for comments of the industry standard was released, and more than 50 industrial chain enterprises such as Huawei, Skyworth, and Hisense jointly released the industrial roadmap,，clarifying the future development direction. In December of the same year, GPMI obtained the SVID (0XFF10) authorized by the USB organization, successfully achieving in-depth integration with the Type-C ecosystem and further expanding its application scenarios. On February 28, 2025, five series of group standards of the "General-Purpose Multimedia Interface Specification" were released. This important event marks that China has a unified, standardized, more compatible, and forward-looking standard system in the field of general-purpose multimedia interfaces, paving the way for the large-scale promotion and application of GPMI.
GPMI also shows unique advantages in functional applications. The bidirectional control protocol it supports enables reverse control across devices through the TV. For example, users can use the TV remote control or a third-party gamepad to control mobile games and other applications, "transferring" the rich mobile phone ecosystem to the large screen, breaking the interaction barriers between different devices, bringing users a brand-new cross-device usage experience, and greatly improving the interconnection and convenience of multimedia devices. Obviously, this also provides strong support for the future installation of the HarmonyOS ecosystem on Mate TV.
03 Competing with DP and HDMI: The Hardware Specifications and Performance Advantages of GPMI
In the interface market, GPMI faces competition from two major international mainstream interface standards, HDMI and DisplayPort (DP). In terms of hardware specifications, GPMI cables are mainly divided into two types: Type-B and Type-C. Among them, the Type-C version is compatible with the existing USB Type-C interface, supporting a maximum data transmission rate of 96Gbps and a power transmission of 240W, achieving a good balance between compatibility and performance. The GPMI Type-B interface, with its larger size advantage, can provide a bandwidth of up to 192Gbps and a power transmission of 480W, having significant advantages in scenarios with high bandwidth and high-power requirements.
The following is a specification comparison between GPMI, HDMI 2.1, and DisplayPort 2.1:
04 Chinese Manufacturers Take the Lead: Comprehensive Promotion of Industrial Chain Collaboration and Ecosystem Building
In the industrial development process of GPMI, Chinese manufacturers have played a crucial role, forming a strong industrial chain collaboration effect. The China Electronics Standardization Institute, together with more than 50 core partners such as Huawei and Shanghai Hisilicon, actively constructs a full-chain ecological alliance covering chips, terminals, and testing, ensuring the stable development of GPMI from all aspects of the industrial chain. The National Audio-Visual Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center has established a certification laboratory to ensure compatibility and security. This promotion model of in-depth integration of government, industry, academia, research, and application has achieved remarkable results, enabling GPMI to make substantial breakthroughs in key aspects such as standard setting (the draft for comments of the industry standard has been released), chip R & D (Shanghai Hisilicon has launched the commercial chip Hi3751V660), and testing equipment (CETC Instrument provides a 67GHz vector network analyzer solution), laying a solid industrial foundation for the industrial application of GPMI.
In terms of ecosystem building, GPMI has also achieved remarkable results. At present, several TV main chips supporting GPMI have been released one after another, providing core hardware support for the R & D of terminal products. Well-known manufacturers such as Skyworth and Huawei Terminal have actively invested resources to develop prototype machines of various products such as all-in-one machines, accelerating the implementation and application of GPMI technology in terminal products. At the same time, manufacturers such as Shanghai Hisilicon have taken the initiative to undertake the development tasks of adapter chips and modules for interfaces such as GPMI, HDMI, and DP, providing key technical support for GPMI to integrate into the existing Type-C industrial ecosystem and achieve docking and interconnection with other interfaces, effectively reducing the user's usage threshold and promoting the popularization of GPMI. In addition, units such as the China Electronics Standardization Institute have also undertaken the development tasks of key instruments such as protocol analyzers. According to the plan, all the main testing equipment will be in place by the end of this year, providing important testing guarantee for the standardized development of the GPMI industry. The government authorities also attach great importance to the technological R & D and industrial application of GPMI and have introduced a series of relevant policies to support and guide them.
In terms of product implementation and market recognition, GPMI has also achieved an important breakthrough. At the end of 2024, Haier took the lead in releasing the world's first smart TV with pure environment care screen equipped with GPMI technology. The launch of this product marks that GPMI technology has officially entered the consumer market. The first smart TV solution integrating GPMI launched by Shanghai Hisilicon won the AWE Innovation Award with its innovative GPMI interaction technology, further enhancing the popularity and influence of GPMI in the industry. In addition, the Shenzhen 8K Ultra-High-Definition Video Industry Collaboration Alliance organized expert reviews and authorized the General-Purpose Multimedia Interface (GPMI) signal generator (model: GPMI-VG10), jointly developed by the Beijing National Engineering Laboratory for Digital TV and the China Electronics Standardization Institute, as the officially licensed testing equipment.
05 Times Have Changed, and Chinese Power Dominates the Market
Now, the Chinese TV industry has occupied an important position in the global market and become an international mainstream force. Against this industrial background, formulating China's own multimedia interface standard has become the only way to achieve industrial upgrading and enhance international competitiveness.
Looking back at history, one of the important reasons why the previously launched domestic interface standards failed to achieve the desired promotion effect was the lack of active participation from leading manufacturers and the release and support of important products, making it difficult to form a market scale effect. The launch of Huawei Mate TV this time undoubtedly brings new opportunities for the promotion and application of the GPMI standard, and is expected to break the previous dilemma and open a new chapter in the development of GPMI.
The strategic significance of GPMI is not only reflected in its leading technology but also in winning valuable voice for the Chinese technology industry in the global interface standard field, breaking the long-term monopoly of international standards. Although GPMI still faces challenges in aspects such as ecosystem promotion and cost control during its development process, relying on the strong technical strength and profound industrial resources of leading enterprises such as Huawei, as well as the policy support at the national level, GPMI is expected to gradually develop into a global mainstream interface standard in the next 5 - 10 years, promoting a revolutionary upgrade of the interconnection experience of smart devices.
Looking at the promotion path of international standards, taking HDMI and DP as examples, their promotion model is usually that enterprises develop and launch relevant technologies and standards, and then apply for certification from authoritative institutions such as the IEEE in the United States. After passing the certification, the US standards are gradually promoted globally and become international standards. As the world's largest industrial country, China has strong production and manufacturing capabilities and a large market scale in many industrial fields, and should have more autonomy and voice in relevant standard setting. Some people often cite early technical standards such as WAPI to question China's ability in standard setting and promotion. It is undeniable that apart from having certain advantages in security, WAPI is not more competitive than WIFI in other performance aspects. However, we must clearly recognize that China's technology industry strength 20 years ago is no longer comparable to that of today. There have been qualitative leaps in technological R & D ability, industrial supporting level, and market influence. The key to judging whether a standard can be successful lies in whether its technology has real advantages. Just like Apple's Thunderbolt interface, although it also faced challenges such as compatibility in the early stage and seemed a bit "out of place", it still won the favor of many consumers with its powerful performance. From the current technical parameters and performance, the performance of GPMI has comprehensively surpassed that of HDMI and DP. Moreover, it has a wide range of application scenarios, which can be applied not only to TVs but also to monitors and for ordinary data transmission. Its functional design fully considers various needs.
Of course, in the process of technological development, we also need to pay attention to various factors such as the industrial ecosystem and market competition. DP technology is also relatively advanced in performance, at least more advantageous than HDMI. However, during the market promotion process, it has been suppressed by the monopoly capital of the HDMI Alliance and can only be applied in specific fields such as computer monitors.
The video interface technology may seem like a tiny part of the technology industry, but in the long - term development, its importance cannot be ignored. Moreover, GPMI has comprehensively surpassed HDMI, DP, and even the Thunderbolt interface in all aspects of performance, having an absolute late - comer advantage, which is fundamentally different from previous technical standards such as WAPI or TD - SCDMA. Even from the perspective of the development of digital products such as mobile phones, China should actively promote the application and popularization of GPMI to replace the existing interface standards. Today's China has a comprehensive national strength that is far beyond what it was 20 years ago. On the road of independent technological innovation, we have the ability and confidence to promote the success of independent standards such as GPMI, occupy a more favorable position in the global technology industry landscape, and contribute Chinese wisdom and Chinese strength to global technological progress and industrial development.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Semiconductor Industry Insights" (ID: ICViews), author: Peng Cheng, published by 36Kr with authorization.