GPMI to replace HDMI in China

Martin Jud

9/4/2025

Translation: machine translated

From this year, TVs with GPMI instead of HDMI connections will be sold in China. The new standard can transmit up to 192 gigabits per second and up to 480 watts. It also helps to save licence costs.

The HDMI Licensing Administrator, Inc. in California should not be happy about this: a new transmission standard and new cables and connections are just around the corner. It will offer more data throughput and power from this year. It will also ensure that fewer licence costs for the "High Definition Multimedia Interface" (HDMI) will flow from China to the USA. This is because GPMI licences will be free of charge for Chinese companies.

The new "General Purpose Media Interface" (GPMI) display and power delivery standard has been developed since 2019 by the Shenzhen 8K UHD Video Industry Cooperation Alliance (SUCA), which consists of over 50 Chinese companies, and has now been finalised. Well-known companies in the industry such as Hisilicon, TCL, Hisense, Huawei and Tencent are part of the cooperation and all want to use GPMI in future products.

One cable for video, audio, network and power

The new interface is available in two versions. A slightly weaker one with a USB-C plug and a stronger one with a wider type B plug. However, the latter is more reminiscent of a flat HDMI connection than a USB-B port - it has nothing to do with the typical connection for printers. The large connection has the advantage that many TVs will be able to use it without an additional power cable. In addition to video, audio and network, there is enough power for most TVs with up to 480 watts.

On paper, both GPMI variants are superior to HDMI:

• GPMI Type-B supports up to 192 gigabits per second (= 24 gigabytes) and 480 watts.
• GPMI Type-C supports up to 96 gigabits per second (= 12 gigabytes) and 240 watts.

In comparison, the data throughput and power transmission of GPMI exceeds all current standards of the time. After all, Thunderbolt with active Bandwidth Boost can keep up well with the smaller Type-C:

• HDMI 2.1 can transfer data at up to 48 gigabits per second (Gbps)
• With DisplayPort 2.1, up to 80 Gbps and 240 watts are possible
• With USB 4 Gen 3×2, it is up to 40 Gbps and 100 watts of power delivery.
• Thunderbolt 5 also normally delivers up to 80 Gbps, but can reach up to 120 Gbps using Bandwidth Boost. As with GPMI Type-C, Thunderbolt 5 offers 240 watts of power.

Compatible with the USB standard, has alternatives to HDMI-CEC and HDCP

Since the film industry is always clamouring for copy protection, GPMI has implemented an alternative to High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP). This is called ADCP here. And so that remote controls can continue to control different devices, there is also an HDMI CEC alternative called Cableinfo Link.

Furthermore, the weaker version of GPMI not only has USB-C on the outside, but is also compatible with USB in other respects. Apart from the plug, this also applies to the stronger version. According to a report from HKEPC Hardware, the corresponding USB approval has already been granted. The licensing of USB is free of charge with regard to the technology itself. However, it is not unusual for other standards to use the USB-C connection. Thunderbolt 5 ports also have the USB-C format and are compatible with it.

In view of the widely announced support, GPMI is likely to prevail over HDMI in the TV sector in China in the coming years. Whether the new standard could also have a chance outside the country is difficult to predict. Due to the lack of content with a correspondingly high bit rate in the film sector, more data throughput is currently of little use. From this perspective, I see more opportunities for the weaker GPMI version with USB-C connector. This is more suited to the computing sector, where the need for more data throughput is increasing faster. Thunderbolt could be tackled directly as a competitor there. Should GPMI one day be launched outside of China, the type of licensing would ultimately also be decisive for its chances of success.

Martin Jud

Senior Editor

martin.jud@digitecgalaxus.ch

I find my muse in everything. When I don’t, I draw inspiration from daydreaming. After all, if you dream, you don’t sleep through life.

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