Mali (processor)
Arm's Mali GPU IP cores for mobile and embedded graphics.
The Mali series of graphics processing units (GPUs) and multimedia processors are semiconductor intellectual property cores produced by Arm Holdings for licensing in various ASIC designs by Arm partners. Mali GPUs were developed by Falanx Microsystems A/S, a spin-off of a research project from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which Arm Holdings acquired on June 23, 2006 and renamed to Arm Norway. The name Mali is Serbo-Croatian for 'small', originally named Malaik but shortened to fit a mobile GPU.
Quick Facts
- Created
- 2005
- Architecture
- Utgard · Midgard · Bifrost · Valhall
- Numcores
- 1 to 32 cores
- Fab
- 4 to 40 nm
- Openclversion
- 1.1 to 3.0
- Openglversion
- 2.0 to 3.0
- Vulkanapi
- 1.0 to 1.3
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The Mali GPU lineage began with the Utgard architecture announced in 2005 by Falanx, featuring the Mali-200 GPU. Utgard was a non-unified GPU with discrete pixel and vertex shaders. Arm followed with Mali-300, Mali-400, Mali-450, and Mali-470. On November 10, 2010, Arm announced the Midgard 1st generation architecture with the Mali-T604, introducing a Hierarchical Tiling system. Midgard evolved through four generations, adding Forward Pixel Kill in 2nd gen (Mali-T678), and reaching up to 16 cores and 256KB–2MB L2 cache in the flagship Mali-T880 announced February 3, 2015.
On May 27, 2016, Arm announced the Bifrost architecture with the Mali-G71, featuring unified shaders with quad vectorization, scalar ISA, clauses execution, full cache coherency, and up to 32 cores. Bifrost progressed through three generations, with the Mali-G76 (3rd gen) doubling execution lanes per engine to eight and supporting up to 20 cores with 512KB–4MB L2 cache. The Valhall architecture debuted on May 27, 2019 with the Mali-G77, introducing a new superscalar engine, simplified scalar ISA, and dynamic scheduling. Valhall reached its 5th generation on May 29, 2023 with the Immortalis-G720, Mali-G720, and Mali-G620, adding deferred vertex shading.
Arm also licenses display controller SIP cores independently, such as Mali DP500, DP550, and DP650, and provides tools like Mali GPU Shader Development Studio and Mali GPU User Interface Engine. The Mali GPU is a pure 3D engine that renders into memory and passes the image to another core for display, lacking integrated display controllers.
Reader's Guide
The Mali GPU series is significant as a dominant intellectual property core for mobile and embedded graphics, licensed by Arm to numerous partners for system-on-chip designs. Its evolution from the non-unified Utgard architecture through Midgard, Bifrost, and Valhall demonstrates a consistent focus on performance density and energy efficiency improvements, with Arm claiming gains such as 40% more performance density for Mali-G71 over Mali-T880, and 30% for Mali-G77 over Mali-G76. The introduction of hardware-based ray tracing with the Immortalis series on June 28, 2022 marked a notable step for mobile graphics. The Mali video processors, including V500, V550, V61, V52, and V76, extend the ecosystem into dedicated video encoding and decoding with support for codecs like HEVC, VP9, and H.264, and include TrustZone integration for digital rights management. The architecture's scalability—from single-core to multi-core configurations—allows it to address a wide range of performance tiers, from mainstream to flagship devices.
Did You Know?
- Arm Holdings acquired Falanx Microsystems on June 23, 2006 and renamed it Arm Norway.
- The Immortalis series, announced June 28, 2022, introduced hardware-based ray tracing support.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mali (processor)?
Mali is a family of GPU and multimedia processor IP cores designed by Arm Holdings for licensing into mobile and embedded ASICs. Rather than being a finished chip you buy, it is a set of semiconductor blueprints that partner companies integrate into their own silicon.
Who originally developed Mali before Arm?
The line traces back to Falanx Microsystems A/S, a spin-off born out of a research project at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Arm Holdings bought Falanx on June 23, 2006, and rebranded the team as Arm Norway to continue the GPU work in-house.
Why is the GPU called 'Mali'?
The name comes from the Serbo-Croatian word for 'small,' fitting for a chip aimed at the mobile market. The original working title was 'Malaik,' but the team trimmed it down so the name would fit neatly on a mobile GPU label.
What was the first Mali GPU architecture?
Utgard, announced in 2005, was the inaugural Mali architecture and set the design direction for every generation that followed. It marked the point where Falanx's research prototype became a licensable product line.
Does Mali support hardware ray tracing?
Yes—Arm announced dedicated hardware ray-tracing support with the Immortalis series on June 28, 2022. That milestone brought real-time ray-traced lighting to the Mali family, which had previously relied on software-based techniques.
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