MStar

MStar Semiconductor, Inc. (Chinese: 晨星半導體股份有限公司; pinyin: Chénxīng Bàndǎotǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī) was a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company specializing in mixed-mode integrated circuit technologies,[4] based in Hsinchu Hsien. MStar made hardware for multimedia and wireless communications, in the form of display ICs and mixed-mode (i.e. combining analog and digital functions) ASIC/IPs, in addition to chip sets for GSM mobile handsets. MStar employed approx. 1300 in more than 10 branches worldwide. The company's revenue was around US$1067 million in 2010.[2] The growth has been substantial, their revenue in 2005 was US$175 million. MStar is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under the code 3697.[5]

MStar Semiconductor
Native name
晨星半導體股份有限公司
TypePublic (TWSE: 3697)
IndustryFabless semiconductors
FoundedMay 2002
HeadquartersHsinchu Science Park,
Hsinchu City
,
Taiwan[1]
Key people
Wayne Liang, Chairman
Steve Yang. President and co-founder
RevenueIncrease US$1.07 billion (2010)[2]
Increase US$207 million (2010)[3]
Websitewww.mstarsemi.com

MStar was often referred as "Little-M" or "Morning Star" in Chinese community, as a contrary part of the bigger semiconductor company "Big-M", a.k.a. MediaTek.

MStar was a spin-off (2-1 stock split) from System General Technology in May 2002, where the power IC product line stayed in System General Technology while the employees with the display and RFID product lines transferred to the new spin-off. After the spin-off, System General Technology regretted the decision, and a 1-2 stock swap was taken to exchange the two companies back to their corresponding shareholders. Chairman and CEO of MStar was Wayne Liang (梁公偉), while Dr. Steve Yang (楊偉毅) was the executive vice president and co-founder.

In 2004, after being involved in a court case where in a ruling by the International Trade Commission (ITC), MStar Semiconductor were found guilty over infringing on a patent held by Genesis Microchip for a method to improve images on liquid-crystal-display (LCD) monitors and flat screen TVs.[6]

On October 14, 2020, MStar came under investigation by the US International Trade Commission for allegedly infringing patents held by DIVX LLC of San Diego, California, USA.[7]

Merger with MediaTek

On 22 June 2012 MediaTek Inc. (TWSE: 2454) announced it purchased 212 million to 254 million shares of MStar (TWSE: 3697 - 40% to 48% of its outstanding shares) for 0.794 MediaTek shares and NT$1 in cash per MStar share.[8]

Comparison table
Model Number Fab CPU GPU RAM Hardware

Decoding

 Hardware

Encoding

 Sampl. Avail-

ability

 Utilizing Devices
ISA µarch Cores Freq. (GHz) µarch Freq. (MHz) Type Bus width
MSO9180/MSO9810 ARMv7-A Cortex-A9 4 1.5 Mali-450 MP(2 or 4?) 500
6A908 1.45 Mali-450 MP4 500
6A918
6A928 Cortex-A17 1.4 Mali-T760 MP4 552 H.265 10bit up to 4k@60fps, H.264 up to 4k@30fps, VP9(?)
6A838 ARMv8-A Cortex-A53 4 1.7 Mali-T820
6A848 Cortex-A73 + Cortex-A53 2+2 Mali-G51
6A938 Cortex-A72 + Cortex-A53 2+2 1.7 Mali-T820 MP3 600 H.265 10bit up to 4k@60fps, H.264 up to 4k@30fps, VP9 10bit up to 4k@60fps

See also

References
  1. "MStar Location". MStar. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  2. "MStar reports record sales in 2010". The China Post. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  3. "2011/2/14 MStar Semiconductor Inc. 2010 Q4 Financial Results". MStar Semiconductors. Archived from the original on 2012-02-18. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  4. Mstar Semiconductor entry in BusinessWeek
  5. "MStar Semiconductor files for primary listing on Taiwanese stock exchange". Taipei Times. 23 August 2010. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  6. MStar back to beginning with Genesis
  7. "USITC Institutes Section 337 Investigation of Certain Video Processing Devices, Components Thereof, and Digital Smart Televisions Containing the Same | USITC".
  8. "MStar Merger with MediaTek". Archived from the original on 2015-07-26. Retrieved 2015-07-19.
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