The interface has never been a trivial matter. The HDMI Alliance has collected "technology tax" for 20 years, which increases the cost burden of Chinese manufacturers as a secondary issue; more importantly, it is about a whole set of standards and discourse systems, which are part of the competition to seize industry commanding heights. The display industry in China has overcome the early pain of "short of chips and screens", and is no longer working for others. Names like Toshiba, Sony, and Samsung, which once needed to be looked up to, are gradually becoming peers or even surpassing them.叠加 with the most prosperous ecosystem of mobile Internet and consumer electronics globally, the GPMI standard interface led by China is just waiting for the right opportunity.
In 2024, TCL (13.9%), Hisense (12.3%), Xiaomi (5.1%), and other Chinese manufacturers accounted for 31.3% of the global TV market share.
Every year, these manufacturers need to pay patent fees to the HDMI Association for each device they produce.
Based on a patent royalty fee of $0.15 per unit and a trademark fee of $0.01 per unit, large manufacturers typically pay millions of dollars annually. According to institutional statistics, the HDMI Association collects approximately $150 million to $200 million in patent royalties annually from global manufacturers, with the Chinese market bearing about 60% of this burden.
The interface has never been a trivial matter, "technology tax" increases the cost burden of manufacturers as a secondary issue; more importantly, it is about a whole set of standards and discourse systems, which are part of the competition to seize industry commanding heights.
HDMI, which still dominates the market today, stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface, which is the afterglow of Japan's highest moment in the display industry.
In 2002, companies such as Hitachi, Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Silicon Image, Thomson, and Toshiba jointly established this interface standard with the aim of unifying the display input of TVs and replacing interfaces such as DVI and VGA at that time.
However, the PC and chip manufacturer alliance dominated by American enterprises did not buy into it. Starting in 2003, computer manufacturers led by Dell began to work together with the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) to promote the DisplayPort (DP) digital video interface standard. This interface is free of certification and royalty payments and is mainly used to connect video sources and displays, while also supporting the transmission of audio, USB, and other forms of data.
The competition between these two ecosystems brings complexity to consumers' usage:
A graphics card usually has three DP interfaces and one HDMI interface, while a desktop computer host typically has only one DP interface, with an HDMI interface being a standard feature; ordinary monitors and most smart TVs are similar, usually having three to four HDMI interfaces... Moreover, HDMI handles video transmission, USB handles data exchange, and power cables handle power supply... The spider web-like cable clusters behind devices not only increase the complexity of connections but also constrain product form innovations.
With the rapid growth of the technology ecosystem characterized by mobile Internet development and the further eastward shift of the global consumer electronics manufacturing center, new standards are emerging.
Emerging in response to the times
In today's electronic equipment market, the Type-C interface on mobile devices shows a trend towards unifying multiple interface standards.
The complete Type-C consists of 24 pins and has powerful functional integration capabilities, allowing data transfer, power supply, and video signal transmission to be achieved through this single interface, with these functions able to run concurrently. Currently, Type-C interfaces can achieve bidirectional data transmission speeds of up to 40Gbit/s, capable of transmitting video, sound, and data simultaneously.
The only shortcoming is that Type-C interfaces do not have a significant advantage in high-definition image transmission.
Currently, the latest Type-C interface supports up to 8K/60Hz image transmission, while the HDMI2.1 interface can meet the transmission needs of 4K/120Hz and 8K/60Hz images, and the latest DP2.1 interface can even meet the transmission needs of 16K/60Hz images.
What if Type-C could address this shortcoming?
In late 2024, the Shenzhen 8K Ultra-High Definition Video Industry Collaboration Alliance (referred to as "SUCA Alliance") took the lead, with the China Electronics Standardization Research Institute and other research institutes, Huawei, Tencent, TCL, BOE, Hisense, Haier, Shanghai HiSilicon, and over 50 other upstream and downstream companies in China's audio and video fields, jointly developing the GPMI (General-Purpose Multimedia Interface, General-Purpose Multimedia Interface) interface.
Reconstructing the Ecosystem
As industry insiders put it: "GPMI is on a different dimension compared to traditional HDMI and DP interfaces, whether in terms of functionality or ecological interconnectivity, far surpassing the latter two."
According to introductions, the GPMI Type-C, under the premise of backward compatibility with USB Type-C, achieves a bandwidth of up to 96Gbps, supporting uncompressed video transmission at 8K 120Hz, with a maximum power supply of 240W, sufficient to meet the power supply requirements of most external devices such as set-top boxes, AR glasses, and phones; at the same time, a Type-B interface specially designed for high-current devices, with a width approximately twice that of the C port, supports a bandwidth of up to 192Gbps and a maximum power supply of 480W, meeting extreme demands such as industrial control and 8K拼接 screens.
In GPMI interface-enabled device interconnection scenarios, a single ordinary Type-C data cable can enable "one-line connectivity" among devices such as 8K TVs, speakers, and game consoles, with no more tangled power cords, video cables, or network cables behind ultra-high-definition video display devices; outdoor拼接 screens and in-car smart screens will also shed their bulky power modules due to GPMI, achieving lower costs and lower latency.
Besides its powerful power supply capability, another feature that distinguishes GPMI from traditional audio and video interfaces is its bidirectional transmission and bidirectional control capabilities.
That is, a single remote control can control all interconnected devices; for example, a set-top box remote control can control TV settings (currently common devices can only control TV power on/off), and a TV remote control can also control set-top box playback content, eliminating consumer concerns about losing remote controls, and in the future, when purchasing external devices like set-top boxes, the remote control could become an "optional" feature.
For instance, GPMI supports networking connections, and in the future, it can serve as the data bus for smart homes, enabling media and data flow across devices. Combined with the Starlight directional remote control, users can call cloud games, educational apps, and other content on smartphones, tablets, and computers remotely, much like using a mouse, achieving the amazing experience of "big screen browsing on a phone."
"Audio and video technologies are accelerating their integration with innovative technologies such as AI, 5G, and big data. Existing interface technologies either solve specific business scenarios or are limited by transmission bandwidth to transmit higher resolution videos. New transmission technologies are urgently needed to carry higher bandwidth, faster rates, and rich networking service demands," said Dong Guiquan, deputy director of the Digital Technology Research Center of the China Electronics Standardization Research Institute. This is the historical mission of the GPMI standard.
More importantly, unlike the HDMI and DP interfaces in the past, which always wanted to start anew and form their own factions, GPMI fully utilized existing USB and mobile Internet ecosystems for research and improvement, ensuring a smooth transition.
The most common Type-C interface of GPMI is identical in shape to the USB Type-C interface, backward compatible, so consumers do not need to replace new cables; plug-and-play provides a good user experience; manufacturers can directly use existing interface standards, significantly reducing production and R&D costs.
Strong Support
GPMI's powerful functions are completed with the entire Chinese science and technology and manufacturing strength as the foundation.
Dong Guiquan introduced to the Observer Network that the GPMI working group was established at the end of 2019, and its application requirements and architecture reached consensus in July 2020. The subsequent technical research, standard formulation, equipment development, prototype testing, and pilot applications cannot be separated from the support and efforts of all participants.
To date, the SUCA Alliance has gradually attracted more than 90 core upstream and downstream partners in the industrial chain, including terminal manufacturers such as Skyworth, Hisense, TCL, Hikvision, Leyard, BOE, Sightview, Huichai, Huawei, etc., universities such as Xidian University, research institutes such as the China Electronics Standardization Research Institute, industry organizations such as the World UHD Industry Alliance and the Shenzhen Commercial Display System Industry Promotion Association, operators such as China Mobile and Tianwei Vision, content providers such as Tencent and Shenzhen Broadcasting, chip manufacturers such as Shanghai HiSilicon and Guoke Microelectronics, connector/cable manufacturers such as AVIC Optoelectronics and Wan Cable, content protection solution providers such as Shenzhen Guoshin and Huanyu Trust, testing institutions such as Cesi Laboratory and Telerec Lab, and instrument manufacturers such as Zhongdian Sitong and Beijing Guoshin.
"BOE and TCL Hua Star supply more than 80% of the world's large-size display panels, Shanghai HiSilicon produces more than 50% of the national TV chips and 60% of the set-top box chips, and Huawei's self-developed HarmonyOS has broken the dominance of Windows and Android... With this strength combined, there is nothing we cannot accomplish." A brand representative of an alliance member enterprise said.
In October 2024, industry partners jointly released the GPMI roadmap, planning the industrial implementation and application of GPMI, which is the core confidence for the promotion and application of GPMI.
In addition to the support of industrial chain enterprises, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other competent authorities attach great importance to the research and application of GPMI, successively issuing supportive policies to promote the rapid implementation of GPMI in the audio and video industry.
In December 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and seven other departments issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the High-Quality Development of the Audio and Video Electronic Industry," providing support for the industrialization and demonstration application of GPMI; in March and April 2024, Shenzhen successively issued policies for ultra-high definition and intelligent terminals, clearly supporting the industrialization of GPMI; in August 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration of Radio and Television, and other regions such as Guangdong Province and Shanghai Municipality successively issued the "Pioneer Plan for Ultra-High Definition," supporting GPMI technological innovation and pilot verification.
At present, the "Complexity Governance of TV Operations" being carried out by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration of Radio and Television also supports the insertion-type micro-set-top-box technology route of GPMI, and relevant national standards are being expedited for project initiation.
Since 2025, with the vigorous promotion of the trade-in policy, GPMI has already released mass-produced chips for TVs. Companies such as Huawei and Skyworth have completed prototype trials of ultra-high-definition integrated smart terminals, ultra-high-definition split smart terminals, set-top boxes, personal computers, monitors, and split smart screens. Shanghai HiSilicon's new set-top box form based on the GPMI interface—the GPMI TV card—has also been unveiled. Haier launched its first TV supporting GPMI direct connection for 4K screen projection, which went on sale on JD.com on December 24, 2024, and received positive market feedback.
It is expected that within this year, GPMI interface terminal products will fully achieve mass production and commercial promotion, and related chips for set-top boxes and GPMI-to-HDMI/DP conversion will be successively released.
“The market scale of the ultra-high-definition field is huge, with a market size of 5 trillion RMB in China in 2024. As the standard interface for the ultra-high-definition field, GPMI has a significant impact on sales in this field,” said Kong Lingguang, executive vice secretary-general of SUCA, in an interview with the media. GPMI is stitching the color of Chinese standards in the future picture of everything interconnected, with technological innovation as the needle and ecological co-construction as the thread.
Complex Competition
Given that the new interface has such powerful functions and is supported by a complete industrial chain of over 90 upstream and downstream entities and policy support, why has there been little news about related product launches in the consumer market over the past half year?
Even when the Observer Network asked alliance member companies about the landing and promotion plans of GPMI, many TV manufacturers' marketing departments didn't even know about this technology. Even Haier TVs, which were the first to adopt the GPMI interface, did not promote it as a core selling point during the sales process.
Ecosystems mean stable patterns, usage habits, and vested interests.
Just like how Hongmeng challenges Android and iOS, technology is merely the foundation. Only if the consumer gains are significant enough to achieve a "dimensional strike" and the distribution of interests within the entire ecosystem is reasonable can a new ecosystem possibly emerge.
This is the inherent law of all ecosystem competitions.
A similar case is that a graphics card usually has three DP interfaces and one HDMI interface, while a desktop computer host typically has only one DP interface, with an HDMI interface being standard; ordinary monitors and most smart TVs are similar, usually having three to four HDMI interfaces, even retaining interfaces such as wired networks, audio-specific, and cable TV, which are rarely used, yet lacking even a single DP interface.
Clearly, performance-wise, DP interfaces are more advanced than HDMI interfaces, yet over the past 20 years, DP interfaces have barely managed to hold their ground, let alone completely replace HDMI. The coexistence of the two is also the result of a 20-year contest between European and American PC and graphics card manufacturers and老牌 Japanese television manufacturers.
In this context, the biggest resistance comes from the vast existing market. For GPMI to rise to prominence, it inevitably faces resistance from both parties. Even with the tailwind of the trade-in policy, there are tens of billions of existing terminal devices domestically, and how to ensure compatibility with existing devices is also a challenge that GPMI must face.
Secondly, the resistance may not come solely from outside.
“Many alliance members haven't heard of this technology. Is it because they are not prepared for promotion, or is it due to consumer habits, production habits, cost concerns, or pressure from international partners, making them unwilling to promote it? This raises a question.” A member of the alliance expressed concern to the Observer Network: “Moreover, the upstream and downstream supply chain enterprises in China's high-definition video field are far more than 90. Larger ones like Sichuan Changhong (with a 2024 sales volume of 16.3 million units, accounting for about 7.84% globally) may not join the alliance due to regional factors. Although the GPMI technology is currently open to all members inside and outside the alliance free of charge, and there are central institutions such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration of Radio and Television leading it, without mandatory regulations, there is no guarantee that related enterprises will take notice.”
Dong Guiquan introduced to the Observer Network that the underlying carrier for realizing GPMI technology is the transceiver chip with GPMI functionality, dedicated chips, or SoCs (integrated circuits) with integrated GPMI interfaces. Without these, it is impossible to realize the innovative advantages of GPMI technology. Therefore, for newly developed GPMI products, priority should be given to using GPMI dedicated interface chips and the upcoming integrated GPMI interface SoCs, followed by using GPMI transceiver chips to maximize the realization of GPMI's extreme performance.
In existing devices, the SoC and interface chips are fixed, thus unable to achieve GPMI capabilities through adapters due to existing interface limitations.
Regarding cost control for terminal device manufacturers, Dong Guiquan revealed that initially, the software and hardware costs of GPMI are basically comparable to those of对标 technologies (HDMI), and in the future, after large-scale industrialization, they will further decrease.
The above alliance member explained that control chips are integrated into TV chips or set-top box chips and almost do not affect the cost of these chips. Hardware costs such as cables and interfaces mainly come from adjustments and replacements of molds and production lines, which have minimal impact when averaged out. The only possible cost increase may occur during the promotion phase, where major terminal device manufacturers may incur certain expenses to promote the new technology.
In summary, it is expected that by the second half of 2025, the promotion plan for GPMI by the alliance will be perfected, and then it will be officially released to the public alongside a large number of terminal products. “It is expected that bidirectional interaction and power supply functions will be promoted as core selling points to attract traffic and hit consumers' hearts at one stroke.”
On the other hand, at the current stage of consumer demand, although China's hardware side has long dominated ultra-high-definition, in terms of "soft power," truly high-quality audiovisual materials for ultra-high-definition are still insufficient.
During this year's "Two Sessions," Li Dongsheng, a national deputy and chairman of TCL, pointed out that there is a significant difference between the development of China's high-definition display industry and foreign markets. The value created by the content service industry in North America is very large, giving rise to many globally competitive companies.
“From the basic conditions and hardware of China's high-definition display industry, we are leading. Then why do our TVs sell less in China? Why is the TV viewing rate in China so low? These issues require joint reflection from all sectors of society to find the reasons,” Li Dongsheng said.
Currently, the GPMI interface has not been officially released. The industry generally believes that it will coexist with HDMI and DP interfaces for a long time. More accurately, the SUCA Alliance is still waiting for an opportune moment to "convince" industry players and billions of consumers.
With the advent of the era of everything interconnected, smart homes, and AI, the existing market faces massive incremental impacts from wearable smart devices and other consumer electronics. 4K and higher resolutions will gradually become standard configurations in film and entertainment and commercial scenes. Technologies from 20 years ago are increasingly inadequate to meet the future development needs of the industry.
In the long term, the GPMI interface will replace existing audio and video interfaces thanks to its far superior performance and functional advantages as well as the vast industrial chain support. This holds profound significance for China to break through the hardware hegemony of developed Western countries and redefine the "ultra-high-definition era."
This article is an exclusive article of the Observer Network. The views expressed in this article are purely those of the author and do not represent the platform's views. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited, otherwise legal liability will be pursued. Follow the Observer Network WeChat account guanchacn for daily reading of interesting articles.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7505047849663513114/
Disclaimer: The article reflects the views of the author alone, and welcome your opinions in the buttons below to show your stance.