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Why Huawei Says It Will Match TSMC s Most Advanced Chips by 2031

19 d ago

Chips&Media has signed a next-generation AV2 video IP licensing agreement with a major North American Big Tech company, marking a key step in commercializing advanced video compression technology. The deal includes Chips&Media’s AV2 decoder IP along with multi-standard support for H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, and AV1, providing a broad hardware video foundation for future flagship products. AV2, developed within the Alliance for Open Media, is designed to succeed AV1 as a higher-efficiency open video codec, improving compression efficiency by roughly 20% to 30%. This is critical as video traffic dominates network usage and devices demand higher resolutions, frame rates, and lower latency. However, better compression increases computational load, making dedicated hardware decoder IP essential to avoid draining CPU cycles, battery, and causing thermal issues on platforms like mobile, TV, automotive, and XR. Chips&Media’s role is to turn the AV2 standard into synthesizable, production-ready semiconductor IP for system-on-chip designs, shortening development cycles and reducing risk. The inclusion of multiple codec generations ensures devices can handle both legacy and next-gen streams. This deal signals that AV2 is moving from research to commercial deployment, aligning device makers, streaming platforms, and semiconductor suppliers. For streaming and cloud video services (e.g., YouTube, Netflix, cloud gaming), more efficient compression reduces delivery costs and improves playback quality. For end devices, AV2 hardware decoding enables smoother 4K/8K playback, longer battery life, and lower heat.