In January 1999, under the enthusiastic initiative of Academician Zhou Guangzhao, the founder of the "two bombs and one satellite" and vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and under the direct leadership of the Ministry of Information Industry, the Ministry of Finance, and the Beijing Municipal Government, With the investment support of the National Electronic Information Industry Development Fund, a group of PhD students studying in the United States, including Deng Zhonghan and Yang Xiaodong, who were invited to return to China, launched and undertook the "Starlight China Chip Project", dedicated to the research, development, design and industrialization of digital multimedia chips.
On October 14, 1999, Vimicro Microelectronics Co., Ltd. was established in Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park. It is responsible for the implementation of the "Starlight China Core Project" and established the idea of ??using digital multimedia chips as a breakthrough point to industrialize core technologies and integrate independent knowledge The "Chinese core" of property rights is a strategic goal to enter the international market. In March 2001, "Starlight China Core Project" launched the first million-gate ultra-large-scale CMOS digital image processing chip "Starlight No. 1" with China's independent intellectual property rights, which was used in PC cameras and successfully industrialized the core technology achievements.
On November 8, 2001, "Starlight One" passed the WHQL certification of Microsoft Windows XP. It was the only product in China to pass this certification at that time. In February 2002, "Starlight China Chip Engineering" launched the digital multimedia chip "Starlight II" that integrates video and audio synchronization processing, entering the visual communication field from the PC field.
In October 2002, "Starlight China Chip Engineering" launched the "Starlight III" artificial vision chip for mobile phone-controlled robots that integrates photography, two-dimensional graphics, and intelligent image processing, entering the field of intelligent monitoring. In April 2003, "Starlight China Chip Engineering" launched "Starlight 4", an external MMS multimedia processing chip for mobile phones, entering the field of mobile communications.
On December 28, 2003, the "China Core Project" results report meeting was jointly held in the Great Hall of the People. It was announced that the "Starlight China Core Project" has made important progress, has broken through 7 core technologies, and applied for 200 It has a number of domestic and foreign technology patents, and the sales volume of "Starlight" digital multimedia chips exceeds 10 million units. In January 2004, "Starlight China Chip Engineering" launched the multimedia processing chip "Starlight 5" for PCs and MMS mobile phones, which supports video and audio input and processing, mobile storage, digital cameras, MMS and other functions for PCs and mobile phones.
In February 2004, Vimicro became the only Chinese chip company to become a member of the International Mobile Industry Processor Alliance (MIPI).
On October 21, 2004, 9 units including Vimicro announced the establishment of the Mobile Multimedia Technology Alliance (MMTA) in Beijing, aiming to promote the network in the mobile communications multimedia industry chain through the strength of all parties in the alliance. , cooperation, innovation and standardization of terminals and applications.
In December 2004, "Starlight China Chip Engineering" launched the "Starlight Mobile No. 1" mobile phone multimedia chip for mobile phone ringtone processing, achieving a breakthrough in the application of 64-polyphonics and real-singing ringtones in mobile phones in a hardware manner. On March 28, 2005, the "Starlight" digital multimedia chip won the "First Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award". General Secretary Hu Jintao personally presented the award to Dr. Deng Zhonghan at the Great Hall of the People.
On June 28, 2005, "Starlight China Chip Engineering" launched the "Starlight Mobile 2" mobile phone multimedia chip for mobile phone embedded digital camera image processing, and released the mobile phone multimedia format technical specifications VMD and VMI .
In June 2005, "Starlight China Chip Engineering" launched the first image input chip dedicated to notebook computers, which integrated 8 million transistors.
On November 15, 2005, Vimicro was listed on the Nasdaq Securities Market, becoming the first Chinese chip design company listed on the Nasdaq. In January 2006, "Starlight China Core Engineering" launched the single-chip hybrid circuit mobile multimedia processor "Starlight Mobile No. 3" mobile phone multimedia chip, which highly integrates a variety of multimedia functions and has the advantages of low power consumption and small size.
In March 2006, "Starlight China Core Engineering" launched the "Starlight Mobile No. 4" mobile phone multimedia chip Vinno. Vinno is the industry's leading single-chip, mixed-signal mobile multimedia processor, integrating a variety of currently widely used mobile multimedia chips. Popular audio and video features. Due to the innovative configurable architecture, the chip is seamlessly compatible with most mobile phone baseband platforms and can work well in mobile networks of GSM, GPRS, CDMA and different 3G standards.
On November 21, 2006, "Starlight China Chip Engineering" launched the "Starlight Mobile No. 5" mobile phone multimedia chip for 3G, and successfully applied it to Datang Mobile's 3G test mobile phone terminals. It has become a leader in the information industry at that time. The first batch of 3G pilot cities designated by the ministry will be tested.
On December 7, 2006, Vimicro won the Global Semiconductor Design Association Annual Award, becoming the first chip design company in mainland China to win this honor. On February 7, 2007, the "Electronic Information Industry Development Fund Venture Investment and 'Starlight China Chip Project' Results Report Meeting" was held in the Great Hall of the People, announcing that the cumulative sales of "Starlight" digital multimedia chips in the global market exceeded 100 million pieces, occupying the global computer market. Image input chips have a market share of more than 60%.
In June 2007, "Starlight China Core Engineering" launched the most advanced web camera processing chip VC0336 in the Web2.0 era, which is mainly used in external computer cameras and embedded laptop cameras.
In September 2007, "Starlight China Core Project" applied for more than 1,000 domestic and foreign patents.
In December 2007, "Starlight China Chip Engineering" released the integration application solution of Windows Raly and network cameras, launching the first generation network camera VS-IPC1002 using Windows Raly technology, realizing remote control over LAN and WAN monitor.
At the end of 2007, Vimicro was once again included in the "List of China's Most Potential Enterprises" by the Chinese version of Forbes. Vimicro has received this honor for two consecutive years. Since 2008, "Starlight China Chip Project" has invested heavily in the research and formulation of national security video surveillance technology standards, chip design and industrialization promotion, and has launched a telecom carrier-grade broadband video surveillance system with my country's independent intellectual property rights that can be deployed on a large scale. and a new generation of wireless high-definition intelligent monitoring system.
On November 19, 2008, the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park Management Committee held a press conference on the results of the "Starlight China Chip Project" and announced that the global sales of "Starlight Mobile" mobile phone multimedia chips exceeded 100 million pieces.