Rockchip

Rockchip (Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese fabless semiconductor company based in Fuzhou, Fujian province. Rockchip has been providing SoC products for tablets & PCs, streaming media TV boxes, AI audio & vision, IoT hardware since founded in 2001. It has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Hong Kong. It designs system on a chip (SoC) products, using the ARM architecture licensed from ARM Holdings for the majority of its projects.

Rockchip was one of the top 50 fabless IC suppliers in 2018. The company established cooperation with Google, Microsoft and Intel. On 27 May 2014, Intel announced an agreement with Rockchip to adopt the Intel architecture for entry-level tablets.

Rockchip is a supplier of SoCs to Chinese white-box tablet manufacturers  as well as supplying OEMs such as Asus,  HP, Samsung and Toshiba.

Featured Products
The RK3588 is the flagship SoC of Rockchip. It has a smaller version, named RK3588S. The RK3399 is the former flagship of Rockchip, and the predecessor of the RK3588.

Dual Cortex-A72 and Quad Cortex-A53 and Mali-T860MP4 GPU, provide computing and multi-media performance, interfaces and peripherals. And software supports multiple APIs: OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.0, OpenCL 1.1/1.2, OpenVX 1.0, AI interfaces support TensorFlow Lite/AndroidNN API.

RK3399 Linux source code and hardware documents are on GitHub and Wiki opensource website. RK3566 is a successor to the RK3288 and outperforms it significantly, with quad core Arm A55 CPUs and an Arm Mali G52 GPU. Boards based on it are expected to be on sale in early 2021 from manufacturers like Pine64, Boardcon.

RK3288 is a high performance IoT platform, Quad-core Cortex-A17 CPU and Mali-T760MP4 GPU, 4K video decoding and 4K display out. It is applied to products of various industries including Vending Machine, Commercial Display, Medical Equipment, Gaming, Intelligent POS, Interactive Printer, Robot and Industrial Computer.

RK3288 Linux source code and hardware documents are on GitHub and Wiki opensource website.

RK3326 and PX30 were announced in 2018, marketed for AI. PX30 is a variant of RK3326 targeting IoT market, supporting dual VOP. They use Arm's CPU Cortex-A35 and GPU G31.

RK3308 is an entry-level product line for mainstream devices. The chip has multiple audio input interfaces, and greater energy efficiency, featuring embedded voice activation detection).

The announcement of RV1108 indicated Rockchip's move to AI/computer vision territory.

With CEVA DSP embedded, RV1108 powers smart cameras including 360° Video Camera, IPC, Drone, Car Camcoder, Sport DV, VR, etc. It also has been deployed for new retail and intelligent marketing applications with integrated algorithms.

Early Products
RK26xx series - Released 2006.

RK27xx series - Rockchip was first known for their RK27xx series that was very efficient at MP3/MP4 decoding and was integrated in many low-cost personal media player (PMP) products.

RK28xx series

The RK2806 was targeted at PMPs.

The RK2808A is an ARM926EJ-S derivative. Along with the ARM core a DSP coprocessor is included. The native clock speed is 560 MHz. ARM rates the performance of the ARM926EJ-S at 1.1 DMIPS/MHz the performance of the Rockchip 2808 when executing ARM instructions is therefore 660 DMIPS roughly 26% the speed of Apple's A4 processor. The DSP coprocessor can support the real-time decoding of 720p video files at bitrates of up to 2.5 Mbit/s. This chip was the core of many Android and Windows Mobile-based mobile internet devices.

The RK2816 was targeted at PMP devices, and MIDs. It has the same specifications as the RK2806 but also includes HDMI output, Android support, and up to 720p hardware video acceleration.

RK29xx series

The Rockchip RK291x is a family of SoCs based on the ARM Cortex-A8 CPU core. They were presented for the first time at CES 2011. The RK292x are single core SoCs based on ARM Cortex-A9 and were first introduced in 2012.

The RK2918 was the first chip to decode Google WebM VP8 in hardware. It uses a dynamically configurable companion core to process various codecs. It encodes and decodes H.264 at 1080p, and can decode many standard video formats including Xvid, H.263, AVS, MPEG4, RV, and WMV. It includes a Vivante GC800 GPU that is compatible with OpenGL ES 2.0 and OpenVG. The RK2918 is compatible with Android Froyo (2.2), Gingerbread (2.3), HoneyComb (3.x) and Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0). Unofficial support for Ubuntu and other Linux flavours exists. As of 2013, it was targeted at E-readers.

The RK2906 is basically a cost-reduced version of the RK2918, also targeted at E-readers as of 2013.

The Rockchip RK2926 and RK2928 feature a single core ARM Cortex A9 running at a speed up to 1.0 GHz. It replaces the Vivante GC800 GPU of the older RK291x series with an ARM Mali-400 GPU. As of 2013, the RK2926 was targeted at tablets, while the RK2928 was targeted at tablets and Android TV dongles and boxes.

The RK3066 is a high performance dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 mobile processor similar to the Samsung Exynos 4 Dual Core chip. In terms of performance, the RK3066 is between the Samsung Exynos 4210 and the Samsung Exynos 4212. As of 2013, it was targeted at tablets and Android TV dongles and boxes. It has been a popular choice for both tablets and other devices since 2012.

The RK3068 is a version of the RK3066 specifically targeted at Android TV dongles and boxes. Its package is much smaller than the RK3066.

The RK3028 is a low-cost dual-core ARM Cortex-A9-based processor clocked at 1.0 GHz with ARM Mali-400 GPU. It is pin-compatible with the RK2928. It is used in a few kids tablets and low-cost Android HDMI TV dongles.

The RK3026 is an updated ultra-low-end dual-core ARM Cortex-A9-based tablet processor clocked at 1.0 GHz with ARM Mali-400 MP2 GPU. Manufactured at 40 nm, it is pin-compatible with the RK2926. It features 1080p H.264 video encoding and 1080p decoding in multiple formats. Supporting Android 4.4, it has been adopted for low-end tablets in 2014.

The RK3036 is a low-cost dual-core ARM Cortex-A7-based processor released in Q4 2014 for smart set-top boxes with support for H.265 video decoding.

RK31xx series
The RK3188 was the first product in the RK31xx series, announced for production in the 2nd quarter of 2013. The RK3188 features a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 clocked up to 1.6 GHz frequency. It is targeted at tablets and Android TV dongles and boxes, and has been a popular choice for both tablets and other devices requiring good performance.


 * 28 nm HKMG process at GlobalFoundries
 * Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9, up to 1.6 GHz
 * 512 KB L2 cache
 * Mali-400 MP4 GPU, up to 600 MHz (typically 533 MHz) supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0, Open G 1.1
 * High performance dedicated 2D processor
 * DDR3, DDR3L, LPDDR2 support
 * Dual-panel display up to 2048×1536 resolution

The RK3188T is a lower-clocked version of the RK3188, with the CPU cores running at a maximum speed of 1.4 GHz instead of 1.6 GHz. The Mali-400MP4 GPU is also clocked at a lower speed. As of early 2014, many devices advertised as using a RK3188 with a maximum clock speed of 1.6 GHz actually have a RK3188T with clock speed limited to 1.4 GHz. Operating system ROMs specifically made for the RK3188 may not work correctly with a RK3188T.

The RK3168, first shown in April 2013, is a dual-core Cortex A9-based CPU, also manufactured using the 28 nm process. It is targeted at low-end tablets. The chip has seen only limited use as of May 2014.

The RK3126 is an entry-level tablet processor introduced in Q4 2014. Manufactured using a 40 nm process, it features a quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU up to 1.3 GHz and a Mali-400 MP2 GPU. It is pin-compatible with RK3026 and RK2926.


 * 40 nm process
 * Quad-core ARM Cortex-A7, up to 1.3 GHz
 * Mali-400 MP2 GPU
 * High performance dedicated 2D processor
 * DDR3, DDR3L memory interface
 * 1080p multi-format video decoding and 1080p video encoding for H.264

The RK3128 is a higher-end variant of RK3126, also to be introduced in Q4 2014, that features more integrated external interfaces, including CVBS, HDMI, Ethernet MAC, S/PDIF, Audio DAC, and USB. It targets more fully featured tablets and set-top boxes.

RK32xx series
Rockchip has announced the RK3288 for production in the second quarter of 2014. Recent information suggests that the chip uses a quad-core ARM Cortex-A17 CPU, although technically ARM Cortex-A12, which as of October 1, 2014, ARM has decided to also refer to as Cortex-A17 because the latest production version of Cortex-A12 performs at a similar performance level as Cortex-A17.


 * 28 nm HKMG process.
 * Quad-core ARM Cortex-A17, up to 1.8 GHz
 * Quad-core ARM Mali-T760 MP4 (also incorrectly called Mali-T764) GPU clocked at 600 MHz supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.0/3.1, OpenCL 1.1, Renderscript, Direct3D 11.1
 * High performance dedicated 2D processor
 * 1080P video encoding for H.264 and VP8, MVC
 * 4K H.264 and 10 bits H.265 video decode, 1080p multi-video decode
 * Supports 4Kx2K H.265 resolution
 * Dual-channel DDR3, DDR3L, LPDDR2, LPDDR3
 * Up to 3840×2160 display output, HDMI 2.0

RK3288 controversy
Early reports including Rockchip first suggested in summer 2013 that the RK3288 was originally designed using a quad-core ARM Cortex-A12 configuration. Rockchip's primary foundry partner GlobalFoundries announced a partnership with ARM to optimize the ARM Cortex-A12 for their 28 nm-SLP process. This is the same process used for earlier Rockchip chips such as the RK3188, and matches the choice of Cortex-A12 cores in the design of the RK3288.

In January 2014, official marketing materials listed the CPU cores as ARM Cortex-A17. At the CES electronics show in January 2014, someone apparently corrected the CPU specification as being ARM Cortex-A12 instead of Cortex-A17 on one of the panels of their show booth. However, since then, official specifications from Rockchip's website and marketing materials as well specifications used by device manufacturers have continued to describe the CPU as a quad-core ARM Cortex-A17.

Recent testing of early RK3288-based TV boxes (August/September 2014) provided evidence that the RK3288 technically contains Cortex-A12 cores, since the "ARM 0xc0d" CPU architecture reported by CPU-Z for Android is the reference for Cortex-A12, while the original Cortex-A17 is referred to as "ARM 0xc0e".

However, on the ARM community website, ARM clarified the situation on October 1, 2014, saying that Cortex-A12, for which Rockchip is one of the few known customers, will be called Cortex-A17 from now on, and that all references to Cortex-A12 have been removed from ARM's website. ARM explained that the latest production revision of Cortex-A12 now performs close to the level of Cortex-A17 because the improvements of the Cortex-A17 now also have been applied to the latest version of Cortex-A12. In this way, Rockchip now gets the official blessing from ARM for listing the cores inside the RK3288 as Cortex-A17.

The first Android TV stick based on RK3288 was launched in November 2014 ("ZERO Devices Z5C Thinko").

RK33xx series
Rockchip announced RK3368, the first member of the RK33xx family, at the CES show in January 2015. The RK3368 is a SoC targeting tablets and media boxes featuring a 64-bit octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU and an OpenGL ES 3.1-class GPU.


 * 64bits Octa-Core Cortex-A53, up to 1.5 GHz
 * High-performance PowerVR SGX6110 GPU with support for OpenGL 3.1 and OpenGL ES 3.0
 * 4Kx2K H.264/H.265 real-time video playback
 * HDMI 2.0 with 4Kx2K @ 60 fps display output

The RK3399, also known as OP1 announced by ARM at Mobile World Congress in February 2016, features six 64 bit CPUs, including 2 Cortex-A72 and 4 Cortex-A53. The RK3399 is used for the development of the open source Panfrost driver for ARM Mali GPU Midgard series.

Consumer devices include Asus Chromebook Flip C101PA-DB02, Asus Chromebook Tablet CT100, Samsung Chromebook Plus, and Pine64 Pinebook Pro.

SBCs include 96Boards RK1808, Boardcon EM3399, Firefly RK3399, Khadas Edge, Lenovo Leez LP710, NanoPi M4B, Rock Pi 4, Pine64 RockPro64, Orange Pi 4, and Zidoo M9.

SOMs include BeiQi RK3399Pro AIoT (Compatible 96boards), Boardcon PICO3399 SO-DIMM, and Geniatech SOM3399 RK3399 (Compatible 96boards).

The RK3399Pro is a version of the RK3399 that includes a 2.4 TOPS NPU.

SBCs include Rock Pi N10, Toybrick RK3399Pro, and VMARC RK3399Pro SoM Ficus2 Evaluation Board. SOM example is VMARC RK3399Pro SoM.

RK35xx series
The RK3566 is expected to be available in Q2 2020, with the following specifications:


 * CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz
 * GPU – Arm Mali-G52 2EE
 * NPU – 1 TOPS with support for INT8/ INT16
 * Multi-Media
 * 8M ISP 2.0 with 3F HDR (Line-based/Frame-based/DCG)
 * Support MIPI-CSI2,4-lane
 * 1080p60 H.265, H.264 encoding
 * 4K H.264/H.265/VP9 60 fps video decoder
 * DVP interface with BT.656/BT.1120
 * Memory – 32-bit DDR3L/LPDDR3/DDR4/LPDDR4/LPDDR4X
 * Storage – eMMC 4.51, NAND Flash, SFC NOR flash, SATA 3.0, SD card via SDIO
 * Display
 * Support Dual Display
 * MIPI-DSI/RGB interface
 * LVDS/eDP/DP
 * HDMI 2.0
 * Audio – 2 × 8-ch I2S, 2 × 2-ch I2S, PDM, TDM, SPDIF
 * Networking – 2 × RGMII interfaces (Gigabit Ethernet) with TSO (TCP segmentation offload ) network acceleration
 * USB – USB 2.0 OTG and USB 2.0 host; USB3.0 HOST
 * Other peripherals
 * PCIe
 * 3 × SDIO 3.0 interface for Wi-Fi and SD card
 * 6 × I2C, 10 × UART, 4 × SPI, 8 × PWM, 2 × CAN interface

RK3566-based SBC example are Pine64 Quartz64, Boardcon EM3566 SBC, Compact3566. and SoM example are Boardcon CM3566, PICO3566.

RK3568-based SBC example are Firefly Station P2, Boardcon EM3568, and SOM example are Core-3568J AI Core Board, CM3568 SOM.

The RK3588 succeeds the RK3399Pro as flagship SoC. It's expected to be available in Q3/Q4 2020.


 * CPU – 4 × Cortex-A76 and 4 × Cortex-A55 cores in dynamIQ configuration
 * GPU – ARM Mali-G610 MP4 GPU
 * NPU (Neural Processing Unit) - 6 TOPS
 * Multimedia – 8K video decoding support, 4K encoding support
 * Display – 4K video output, dual-display support
 * Process – 8 nm LP

RK3588-based SBC example is Boardcon Idea3588, and SOM example is CM3588 SOM.

Open-source commitment
Rockchip provides open source software on GitHub and maintains a wiki Linux SDK website to offer free downloads of SoC hardware documents and software development resources as well as third-party development kits info. The chipsets available are RK3399, RK3288, RK3328 and RK3036.

Markets and competition
In the market for SoCs for tablets, Rockchip faces competition with Allwinner Technology, MediaTek, Intel, Actions Semiconductor, Spreadtrum, Leadcore Technology, Samsung Semiconductor, Qualcomm, Broadcom, VIA Technologies and Amlogic.

After establishing a position early in the developing Chinese tablet SoC market, in 2012 it faced a challenge by Allwinner. In 2012, Rockchip shipped 10.5 million tablet processors, compared to 27.5 million for Allwinner. However, for Q3 2013, Rockchip was forecast to ship 6 million tablet-use application processors in China, compared to 7 million for Allwinner who mainly shipped single-core products. Rockchip was reported to be the number one supplier of tablet-use application processors in China in Q4 2013, Q1 2014 and Q2 2014.

Chinese SoC suppliers that do not have cellular baseband technology are at a disadvantage compared to companies such as MediaTek that also supply the smartphone market as white-box tablet makers increasingly add phone or cellular data functionality to their products.

Intel Corporation made investments into the tablet processor market, and was heavily subsidizing its entry into the low-cost tablet market as of 2014.

Cooperation with Intel
In May 2014, Intel announced an agreement with Rockchip to jointly deliver an Intel-branded mobile SoC platform based on Intel's Atom processor and 3G modem technology. Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will deliver an Intel-branded mobile SoC platform. The quad-core platform will be based on an Intel Atom processor core integrated with Intel's 3G modem technology, and is expected to be available in the first half of 2015. Both Intel and Rockchip will sell the new part to OEMs and ODMs, primarily into each company's existing customer base.

As of October 2014, Rockchip was already offering Intel's XMM 6321, for low-end smartphones. It has two chips: a dual-core application processor (either with Intel processor cores or ARM Cortex-A5 cores) with integrated modem (XG632) and an integrated RF chip (AG620) that originates from the cellular chip division of Infineon Technologies (which Intel acquired some time ago). The application processor may also originate from Infineon or Intel.