Components
NationalChip’s STB solutions for Indian digitisation
MUMBAI: When it comes to technology, China is one of the leading Asian countries in the world that comes to mind. So it’s no surprise when leading China based IC developer and manufacturer of digital TV solutions, NationalChip, launched new set top box chips (system-on-chip) for the Indian market.
The company is looking to increase its market share in India’s fast-growing set-top box (STB) chip manufacturing market. As part of its growth plans, NationalChip has launched new set-top box chips (system-on-chip) for the Indian market.
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The company’s new HD STB chip is based on GX3201 that delivers HD content at over 1000 MIPS CPU performance, 1080P HD decoding and security implementation. To cater to the mid to lower end subscribers that forms the major chunk of the Indian cable TV universe, the company has launched SD STB chip based on GX3001R or GX3012Q that offers high speed CPU for user experience as well as true colour display for enhanced picture quality.
According to NationalChip, these chips can support advanced security implementation that are demanded by most prominent conditional access vendors (CAS) and MSOs.
“India has nearly 6,000 MSOs whereas there are only 300 MSOs in China. There is a huge opportunity for us to tap into this large cable TV market and we have the resources, the name and the technological advancement to cater to it,” says NationalChip VP Patrick Dou.
NationalChip’s HD solution also supports OTT application that will allow subscribers to access online video content through home network internet. Currently the chip allows the viewer to use Wi-Fi connectivity to access sites such as YouTube to experience HD videos on their larger screens.
“We are telling the MSOs here that they can secure subscription revenue and at the same time provide value added services to their subscribers with our HD solution that supports OTT application,” adds Dou.
After having been in the industry since its inception in 2001 the chip manufacturer is looking to expand into new markets. It has identified India as one of the key markets apart from southeast Asia and Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA). NationalChip, which began operations in India from 2011, is working with local Indian STB manufacturers by providing them with software support to develop STBs locally.
The company claims that its chips have been officially authorised by many CAS companies including NDS (Now under Cisco), Sumavision, NSTV, ABV, Logic Eastern, Ensurity, E-CAS, and Only One CAS. With the new product offering, the STB chip manufacturer is looking to work with other major CAS vendors in the Indian market.
“We have a leading product lineup, turnkey solutions, track record and technical capability to support sustainable development of the Indian market,” says an optimistic Dou. On the business front, Dou says that the company has shipped 1.5 million chips to the Indian market in the last two years.
“This might not seem like a big number but for a company which has been in the market for just two years, it’s quite an achievement,” stresses Dou. Dou is looking to up NationalChip’s market share to 30-35 per cent in the next four years, up from the current five per cent share.
However, that will be a tough task as the STB chips market is currently dominated by big players like French Italian MNC STMicroelectronics, America’s Broadcom, and Taiwan’s ALi Corporation.
To achieve this growth, the company is expanding to other cities in the country. Currently having its office only in Delhi it soon has plans to branch out to Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ahmadabad and Chennai. The company currently has Pune-headquartered Millennium Semiconductors as its only distributor in India.
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“We have been in this business for nearly two decades now and have the right know how to take NationalChip and its advanced technology to the leading MSOs in the country. We are sure that with its advanced security feature as well as great capability to showcase HD content all leading MSOs will be more than willing to join hands with NationalChip and us,” says Millennium Semiconductor Sr.GM Technical Operation Sunil Deshmukh.
Being the first local Chinese company to develop digital TV IC solutions since 2001, NationalChip is also the first and only Chinese IC company to achieve big deployment to support digitalisation phases in India.
SEOUL: In the eternal battle between gamers demanding lightning-fast refresh rates and professionals craving pixel-perfect clarity, LG Display reckons it has found détente. The South Korean display titan is unveiling the world’s first 27-inch 4K OLED monitor panel that marries an RGB stripe structure with a blistering 240Hz refresh rate—a combination previously thought incompatible, like oil and water or fashion and function.
The breakthrough lies in how the pixels are arranged. RGB stripe structure lines up red, green and blue subpixels in neat rows, banishing the colour bleeding and fringing that plague lesser screens when you park your nose close to the display. It is the difference between reading crisp text and squinting at a rainbow-tinged mess. OLED panels using this method existed before, but they topped out at a sluggish 60Hz—fine for spreadsheets, useless for fragging opponents in first-person shooters.
LG Display’s engineering wizardry changes the game. By cranking the refresh rate to 240Hz whilst maintaining that pristine RGB stripe layout, the company has produced a panel that works equally well for colour-critical design work and twitchy gaming sessions. Better still, the panel incorporates Dynamic Frequency & Resolution technology, letting users toggle between ultra-high-definition at 240Hz and full-HD at a frankly ludicrous 480Hz. That is fast enough to make your eyeballs sweat.
The specs are suitably impressive: 160 pixels per inch for exceptional detail, optimised performance for Windows and font-rendering engines, and colour accuracy that should please the Photoshop brigade. LG Display achieved this by boosting the aperture ratio—the percentage of each pixel that actually emits light—and applying what it coyly describes as “various new technologies.” Translation: years of R&D and probably some sleepless nights.
Existing high-end gaming OLED monitors have relied on RGWB structures (which add a white subpixel) or triangular RGB arrangements. Both work, but neither delivers the sharpness that professionals demand. LG Display’s new stripe pattern is tailored specifically for monitor use, a recognition that staring at a screen from two feet away demands different engineering than watching telly from across the room.
The company is betting big on this technology, targeting the high-end monitor market where it already commands roughly 30 per cent of global OLED panel production. Among gaming OLED panels in mass production, LG Display claims world-leading specs across refresh rate, response time and resolution—a trifecta that sounds like marketing bluster until you check the numbers.
“Technology is the foundation of leadership in the rapidly growing OLED monitor market,” says LG Display head of the large display business unit Lee Hyun-woo. He promises to keep pushing “differentiated technologies compared to competitors”—corporate-speak for staying ahead of Chinese rivals snapping at LG’s heels.
The new panel will debut at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, where LG Display plans to woo customers and expand its lineup. Initial rollout targets high-end gaming and professional monitors, the sweet spot where people actually pay premiums for superior screens rather than settling for whatever came with their laptop.
Whether this technology reshapes the monitor market or remains a niche luxury depends on two things: pricing and production scale. But for now, LG Display has pulled off something rare—a genuine technical leap that solves a real problem. Gamers get their speed, designers get their clarity, and LG gets bragging rights. In the cutthroat world of display tech, that counts as a win.
