NeoMagic

NeoMagic Corporation

Company type	Manufacturing, e-Commerce
Traded as	OTC Pink: NMGC
Founded	1993
Headquarters	San Jose, California
Products	SOCs
Website	www.neomagic.com

NeoMagic Corporation is a fabless semiconductor company and supplier of low-power audio and video integrated circuits for mobile use (MagicMedia).

In October 2012, NeoMagic entered into the e-commerce arena with the acquisition of its MercadoMagico.com division. MercadoMagico.com provides a multivendor platform where users buy and sell products from one another or buy electronic products directly.

History

NeoMagic Corporation was founded in 1993 in California.^[1] Working with semiconductor vendor Mitsubishi Electric as a key foundry supplier, NeoMagic introduced its first graphics processors in 1995;^[2] these were notable for being the first chips to combine a graphics logic and DRAM video memory into one chip.^[3] As this was a more power-efficient method than ones previously used by graphics processors, most of the major laptop manufacturers of the time began to use NeoMagic graphics chips in their systems.^[2] In 2000, NeoMagic left the laptop market completely,^[4] and switched their focus to producing systems on a chip, or SOCs, for mobile phones and other handheld devices, like PDAs.^[5] The firm's first handheld chips were unveiled in 2001, when NeoMagic introduced the MiMagic line.^[6] The initial MiMagic chips were based on a 32-bit MIPS Technologies RISC processor core, and featured 4MB of embedded DRAM, as well as a 1024x768-capable graphics chip, and an AC'97-compatible sound processor.^[6] Subsequent versions of the MiMagic chip family starting from the MiMagic 3 in 2002, were based on 32-bit ARM RISC processor cores.^[7] In October 2012, NeoMagic acquired MercadoMagico.com.^[8] In November 2023 they acquired Advanced Microwave Incorporated.^[9][10]

MagicGraph

MagicGraph128XD
NM2160C

MagicMedia256AV
NM2200C-A

Model	Chipset
MagicGraph 128	NM2070
MagicGraph 128V	NM2090
MagicGraph 128ZV	NM2093
MagicGraph 128ZV+	NM2097
MagicGraph 128XD	NM2160
MagicMedia 256AV	NM2200
MagicMedia 256AV+	NM2230
MagicMedia 256ZX	NM2360
MagicMedia 256XL+	NM2380

Adoption

These chips were used in a number of different laptop computers.^[11] In 1998, Red Hat was able to release the source code of the XFree86 driver developed by Precision Insight Inc. which was previously distributed as proprietary software.^[12] The NeoMagic driver included in the Linux kernel is partly based on the XFree86 one.^[13]

References

1. "Chip Maker NeoMagic Plans IPO". Los Angeles Times. 1997-01-22. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
2. Pitta, Julie (July 1, 1998). "Reboot NeoMagic". Forbes. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
3. Malik, O.P. (June 24, 1997). "NeoMagic on the rise". Forbes. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
4. Hachman, Mark (April 21, 2000). "NeoMagic to exit PC graphics mkt. for wireless". EETimes. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
5. Blickenstorfer, Conrad H. "Magic? No, NeoMagic". Pen Computing Magazine. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
6. "NeoMagic hopes to weave new magic with RISC-based chips for handhelds". EETimes. July 10, 2001. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
7. "Smallest SoC suits multimedia handhelds". Electronic Products. 2002-10-01. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
8. "About Us". NeoMagic Corporation. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
9. "NeoMagic (R) Corporation Announces Acquisition of Advanced Microwave Inc". PR.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
10. "NeoMagic (R) Corporation Announces Acquisition of Advanced Microwave Inc". Yahoo Finance. 2023-11-16. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
11. "xorg / driver / xf86-video-neomagic". GitLab. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
12. "Neomagic driver source code released to Xfree86". www.redhat.com. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
13. "torvalds/linux". GitHub. Retrieved 2020-03-03.

MercadoMagico.com http://www.themiddlemarket.com/news/neomagic-acquires-mercadomagico-com-234059-1.html

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https://www.bloomberg.com/article/2013-05-07/atVaCKn_sLIc.html https://www.bloomberg.com/article/2013-05-28/aG8jWqLGA5cU.html