The integration of hardware and algorithms has become an industry trend. About the cooperation between MediaTek and ArcSoft.

As the mobile phone market enters the stock era, AI, as a differentiated selling point, has become another force point for chip/terminal manufacturers after 5G. A few days ago, ArcSoft said that it has maintained strategic cooperation with MediaTek, and through the deep adaptation of "chip+algorithm", it will bring greater vitality and imagination to the industry. Insiders also pointed out that ArcSoft has provided algorithmic support for various processors in MediaTek, such as enhancing the depth of field with the APU of Celestial Chip, AI color processing, automatic noise reduction in dark environment and other enhanced shooting functions, and more actions will be planned in the future.

MediaTek and ArcSoft have had a lot of recent developments. For example, MediaTek's newly released Tianji 920/ Tianji 8 10 are all equipped with rainbow soft algorithm. The main selling point of Tianji 8 10 is the AI-Color technology from ArcSoft, which can realize the natural over-blurring of sharp edges through algorithms. It makes people look more prominent and realizes the effect of "protagonist aura". In fact, this is not the first cooperation between MediaTek and ArcSoft. Earlier, Tianji 1200 adopted ArcSoft's super panoramic AI night scene algorithm, which achieved high-quality and accurate mosaic effect in low-light scenes, and noise and details were greatly improved. In addition, Helio P90, P70 and other products before this also have iridescent figures.

The cooperation between MediaTek and ArcSoft is actually only a part of MediaTek's "algorithm+hardware" strategy. To achieve the usability of AI, first of all, powerful hardware is essential. In fact, MediaTek has been working on AI hardware for several years. For example, as early as 20 18, Helio P60 launched by MediaTek was equipped with an APU unit dedicated to AI computing and the corresponding NeuroPilot AI platform, which was the first to open a dedicated AI core in the industry. After several generations of product iterations, MediaTek has significantly improved the computing performance, multi-core collaboration and power optimization of APU. Many chips equipped with APU in MediaTek have climbed to the top of Zurich AI-benchmark platform for many times, and the strength of R&D is evident.

In addition to its strong AI hardware performance, MediaTek has further cooperated with industrial partners to improve its AI ecosystem. For example, in terms of software, algorithms and applications, we have joined hands with well-known AI algorithm companies at home and abroad such as ArcSoft, Defiance and Shang Tang. By introducing many algorithmic techniques, including encrypted face recognition, 3D human posture recognition and tracking. Through these algorithms, APU can support many functions, including payment-grade face unlocking recognition, automatic video slimming beauty and so on, which greatly expands the application field of AI and effectively popularizes the application of AI in smart devices in recent years.

According to the data, the APU platform in MediaTek has been iterated to version 3.0, and the mainstream Celestial 5G mobile chips are equipped with related functions, which can be said to provide reliable AI computing support for terminal equipment. In terms of application, common AI scene recognition, intelligent translation, AI photography assistance and other functions all have AI-specific core support. Of course, it is worth mentioning that the special optimization of APU 3.0 for 5G networks is the biggest feature. Take the popular short video as an example. Usually, the system will compress the original film. Tianqi 5G mobile chip equipped with APU 3.0 can achieve the effect of "image quality improvement" through APU algorithm, making low-quality video high-definition, greatly improving the viewing experience of short video users.

In addition to improving image quality, MediaTek's APU has been further extended to system applications. For example, the latest APU carried by Tianji 820 can support exclusive multi-task scheduling technology, which can cut the progress of tasks and make two tasks complete at the same time. For example, when users record videos, they can record and take photos at the same time without interfering with each other, thus ensuring the quality of recording and taking photos. In addition, the AI video blur elimination function is also very powerful. By cutting and deblurring the video image through AI algorithm, the blurred image can be restored in real time. Even if the hand shakes when shooting a video, the user is not afraid of image blur, so that the user is not afraid of jitter when shooting a short video.

On the basis of applications and systems, MediaTek has further improved the AI ecosystem, for example, realizing the opening of API level. Through NeuroPilot SDK, developers of terminal manufacturers can code and develop in a way closer to hardware, which provides strong support for giving full play to the potential of APU. For example, Xiaomi has successfully enabled Redmi 10X series 5G mobile phones to have rich photography applications such as AI scene recognition, AI portrait color retention, and AI real-time background blur by integrating APU 3.0 of Tianji 820 and its self-developed MACE deep learning framework, which greatly improved the user's shooting experience.

In addition to mobile phone chips, MediaTek also extends the AI platform to many application scenarios such as smart home, TV, AIoT and tablet computer. And intends to form a complete AI ecological application scenario chain. At present, MediaTek's AI industry partners include terminal manufacturers, algorithm companies and software giants, including Tencent, Ali, Amazon and other well-known companies. It can be seen that MediaTek really invested a lot of resources in AI.

Generally speaking, MediaTek's "algorithm+hardware" strategy has achieved good results. According to the data of CINNO Research, MediaTek's SoC shipments continued to rise in June, with a year-on-year increase of 56.5%. But as mentioned above, consumer electronic products, led by mobile phones, have entered the inventory era. Samsung, Apple, Intel and other big companies are trying their best to expand the use of AI technology. From AIoT to smart cars, an AI competition is in full swing. At present, MediaTek has laid out a strong 5C market, and we predict that it will launch a new round of action in the AI field, so we may wish to wait and see its performance.