Introduction to Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd.

1. Company Overview

Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd. (abbreviated as “Rockchip”) was established in 2001 and is headquartered in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China. It is a high-tech enterprise focused on integrated circuit design and research and development. The company adopts a Fabless model, concentrating on chip design, while wafer manufacturing, packaging, and testing are completed by professional foundries. Rockchip has subsidiaries in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, and other locations, with business operations covering the globe.

2. Core Business and Products

Rockchip’s core business involves the design, research and development, and sales of smart application processors SoC (System on Chip) and supporting peripheral chips. Its main products include:

• AIoT Chips: Such as the flagship chip RK3588, RK3576, etc., widely used in smart home, smart security, automotive electronics, robotics, and other fields.
• Power Management Chips: Including fast charging protocol chips, interface conversion chips, wireless connection chips, etc., which work in conjunction with smart application processors to provide complete hardware solutions.
• Video and Audio Processing Chips: Supporting high-definition video encoding and decoding, image processing, intelligent voice, etc., widely used in consumer electronics and industrial fields.

3. Technical Advantages and Innovations

• High-Performance Chips: Rockchip’s flagship chip RK3588 uses a 8nm process, integrating a quad-core Cortex-A76 and a quad-core Cortex-A55 CPU, with an NPU computing power of 6 TOPS, supporting edge AI model deployment.
• Technical Adaptation: Actively adapting to operating systems such as OpenHarmony, promoting the application of chips in the era of the Internet of Everything.
• R&D Investment: R&D expenses have consistently accounted for over 20% for several years, with R&D expenses reaching 536 million yuan in 2023, and R&D personnel accounting for 77.28%.

4. Market Performance and Industry Position

• Market Performance: In 2024, Rockchip expects to achieve operating revenue of 3.1-3.15 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 45.23%-47.57%; net profit attributable to the parent company is expected to be 550-630 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 307.75%-367.06%.
• Industry Position: Rockchip is one of China’s leading SoC chip design companies, ranking among the top 20 AI chip companies globally, with a continuously increasing market share in the domestic market.

Overview of Rockchip RK3288 and RK3588 Chips

The company recently purchased two development boards (Android), one is RK3288 and the other is RK3588. The former is aimed at general embedded scenarios, while the latter focuses on AI machine vision (edge computing devices). Below is a comparison based on some gathered information.

1. Process and Architecture

• RK3288

  Uses 28nm HKMG process, integrating a quad-core Cortex-A17 CPU, with a maximum frequency of 1.8GHz, paired with a Mali-T764 GPU, supporting graphics interfaces such as OpenGL ES 3.0 and DirectX 11.

• RK3588

  Uses 8nm LP process, featuring a big.LITTLE architecture with quad-core Cortex-A76 (2.4GHz) + quad-core Cortex-A55 (1.8GHz), integrating a Mali-G610 MP4 GPU, supporting more advanced graphics interfaces such as OpenGL ES 3.2 and Vulkan 1.2, and includes a NPU with 6 TOPS computing power.

2. Performance

• CPU PerformanceThe single-core performance of the Cortex-A17 in RK3288 is improved by 40% compared to the previous generation, but limited by the quad-core design, its multitasking capability is restricted. In contrast, the octa-core architecture of RK3588 shows significant performance improvement in multi-threaded scenarios, with Geekbench scores 3.5 times higher than RK3399 (the previous flagship).
• GPU PerformanceThe Mali-T764 GPU in RK3288 has a pixel fill rate of 2400M/s, supporting 4K display; the Mali-G610 GPU in RK3588 is more powerful, supporting 8K UI rendering and complex graphics processing, performing better in gaming and AR/VR scenarios.
• AI Computing PowerRK3288 lacks an independent NPU and relies on the CPU for AI tasks; RK3588’s NPU supports INT4/INT8/FP16 mixed precision, with 6 TOPS computing power capable of deploying complex models (e.g., ResNet50 inference speed reaches 106 FPS).

3. Multimedia and Codec

• Video ProcessingRK3288 supports 4K@60fps H.265 decoding and 1080P encoding; RK3588 supports 8K@60fps H.265/AV1 decoding and 8K@30fps encoding, and supports up to 40 channels of 1080P video processing in parallel.
• Display InterfacesRK3288 supports HDMI 2.0 and dual-channel LVDS; RK3588 supports HDMI 2.1, DP 1.4, and dual eDP interfaces, enabling 7-screen independent display or dual 4K@120Hz output.

4. Interfaces and Expandability

• RK3288 provides dual Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, MIPI-CSI, etc., suitable for mid-range scenarios such as industrial control and advertising machines.
• RK3588 integrates PCIe 3.0, USB 3.1, dual Type-C, dual GMAC Gigabit Ethernet, supports LPDDR5 memory, offering greater expandability, suitable for high-bandwidth scenarios such as edge computing and smart cockpits.

5. Application Scenarios

• RK3288 is mainly used in smart TVs, industrial control, advertising machines, and mid-range security devices, maintaining a market presence in low-power scenarios due to its cost-effectiveness.
• RK3588 targets the high-end market, such as 8K video conferencing, AR/VR devices, AIoT edge servers, and smart cockpits, meeting high-performance and complex AI computing needs.

6. Power Consumption and Ecosystem

• Power ConsumptionRK3288’s 28nm process has a lower energy efficiency ratio, with a typical power consumption of about 5W; RK3588’s 8nm process reduces power consumption by 30%, while significantly improving performance.
• Ecosystem SupportRK3288 is compatible with Android 5.1/Linux systems; RK3588 supports Android 12, OpenHarmony, and domestic operating systems, with a more complete development toolchain.

Conclusion

Dimension	RK3288	RK3588
Positioning	Mid-range market, high cost-performance ratio	Flagship level, high-performance computing and AI scenarios
Process	28nm HKMG	8nm LP
CPU	Quad-core [email protected]	Quad-core [email protected] + Quad-core [email protected]
GPU	Mali-T764	Mali-G610 MP4
NPU	None	6 TOPS
Video Capability	4K@60fps decoding	8K@60fps encoding/decoding, supports AV1
Interface Expansion	Dual Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0	PCIe 3.0, USB 3.1, dual HDMI 2.1
Typical Applications	Industrial control, advertising machines, mid-range security	Edge computing, AR/VR, smart cockpit, 8K video