ARK Logic

File:2the Max Premier 1000 VL.jpg graphics card, featuring ARK's 32-bit ARK1000PV GPU]]

File:Diamond Stealth 64 Graphics 2001.jpg's Stealth64 PCI graphics card, featuring ARK's 64-bit ARK2000PV GPU]]

ARK Logic was principally founded by Ruey "Ray" Lu in 1993 in Santa Clara, California.{{cite journal | last=Brown | first=Peter | date=February 15, 1999 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/209729158/ | title=Another 3-D Engine Enters the Fray | journal=Electronic News | publisher=Reed Business Information | volume=45 | issue=2257 | page=10 | via=ProQuest}} Lewis Eggebrecht, the chief designer of the IBM Personal Computer, was hired as the chief scientific officer of ARK.{{cite web | last=Smith | first=Tony | date=August 12, 2011 | url=https://www.theregister.com/2011/08/12/ibm_pc_30_anniversary/ | title=The IBM PC: On 12 August 1981, the world changed | work=The Register | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126124132/https://www.theregister.com/2011/08/12/ibm_pc_30_anniversary/ | archivedate=January 26, 2021}}{{cite web | last=Thryft | first=Ann R. | date=November 13, 1995 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/228164715/ | title=Tech Concerns Belie Heraldry | work=Electronic Buyers' News | publisher=CMP Publications | page=55 | via=ProQuest}}

The company released its first products to the market in October 1994, comprising a pair of GUI accelerators designed in-house by ARK. They were the ARK1000PV and the ARK2000PV, the former a 32-bit GUI accelerator and the latter a 64-bit GUI accelerator. Both used DRAM and a host interface unit compatible with both Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) and VESA Local Bus (VLB). The host interface unit also contains built-in intelligent cache to achieve sustained burst transactions over the PCI bus and zero-wait-state transactions over both PCI and VLB.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=October 24, 1994 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/227467041/ | title=ARK Ships Accelerators | journal=Computer Reseller News | publisher=CMP Publications | issue=601 | page=137 | via=ProQuest}} ARK's first design win was with Western Digital's Paradise subsidiary, which chose the 32-bit ARK1000PV for their low-cost Bali 32 graphics accelerator card in November 1994.{{cite journal | last=Brown | first=Eryn | author2=Cade Metz | author3=Lance Ulanoff | author4=Jeff Mace | date=September 12, 1995 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GL59pngdbfQC&pg=PA362 | title=The Driver Manual | journal=PC Magazine | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=14 | issue=15 | pages=337–475 | via=Google Books}}{{rp|362}}

Integrated Circuit Systems (ICS), a manufacturer of clock generators and RAMDACs based in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, announced in April 1995 that they had acquired a majority stake (51 percent{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=April 10, 1995 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A16864002/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=d093ee10 | title=ICS makes ARK investment, sees refocus charges | journal=Electronic News | publisher=Sage Publications | volume=41 | issue=2060 | page=10 | via=Gale}}) in ARK Logic for $7.3 million. The terms of the purchase allowed ICS to acquire the remaining 49 percent stake from the minority interests after 18 months based on fair market value. Following the purchase, ARK Logic moved their headquarters from Santa Clara to San Jose, California. ICS' stake in ARK came two years after they had bought a majority stake in Turtle Beach Corporation, makers of sound cards and other audio peripherals for personal computers.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=April 4, 1995 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/398577591/ | title=Integrated Circuit Systems Inc.: Charge of $6.4 Million Is Tied to New Multimedia Strategy | journal=The Wall Street Journal | publisher=Dow Jones & Company | page=1 | via=ProQuest}}{{cite journal | last=Wilen | first=John | date=February 2, 1996 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A18161054/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=ac87545c | title=Integrated Circuit Systems banking on new product lines | journal=Philadelphia Business Journal | publisher=American City Business Journals | volume=14 | issue=49 | page=6 | via=Gale}} The purchase of both Turtle Beach and ARK solidified ICS' pivot to multimedia products in the mid-1990s, although this ultimately proved short-lived.

ARK earned their second design win with Hercules Computer Technology, who used ARK's 64-bit ARK2000PV to power their Stingray 64 graphics card.{{cite journal | last=Houts | first=Ean | date=August 28, 1995 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A17277469/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=e9c28408 | title=Hercules' new graphics accelerator is fast, but its video quality could use improvement | journal=InfoWorld | publisher= IDG Publications | volume=17 | issue=35 | page=86 | via=Gale}} In August 1995, ARK scored another design win with Diamond Multimedia, providing the latter with the ARK2000PV graphics accelerator, which powered Diamond's popular Stealth64 graphics card.{{cite journal | last=DiCarlo | first=Lisa | author2=Erica Schroeder | date=August 21, 1995 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A17213815/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=d8cb86c6 | title=Cirrus, Diamond polish up new MPEG products | journal=PC Week | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=12 | issue=33 | pages=25 et seq | via=Gale}}{{cite journal | last=Boyd-Merritt | first=Rick | date=September 4, 1995 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A17552805/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=97f64f83 | title=Diamond Mines Ark Controller | journal=Electronic Engineering Times | publisher=UBM LLC | issue=864 | page=47 | via=Gale}} In December 1995, ARK introduced their followup to the ARK2000PV, the ARK2000MI, which made use of an ICS RAMDAC and included an MPEG-1 decoder chip for full-screen video acceleration.

In August 1996, ARK introduced the ARK2000MT, which replaced the generic RAMDAC with ICS' ICS5342 "GENDAC" (combination clock generator and RAMDAC) and upgraded the full-screen video accelerator chip to one that could decode MPEG-2 video at 30 frames per second.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=1996 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VXYpAQAAMAAJ&q=%22ARK2000MT%22 | title=Accelerator handles 64-bit graphics, video | journal=Electronic Products Magazine | publisher=United Technical Publications | volume=38 | issue= | page=105 | via=Google Books}} The chip supported displaying at a maximum maximum resolution of 1600 by 1200 pixels at 16.7 million colors.{{cite journal | last=Neale | first=Ron | date=August 1996 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qt4EAQAAIAAJ&q=%22full+screen-+video+at+over+30+frames+per%22 | title=Graphics Accelerator | journal=Electronic Engineering | publisher=Morgan-Grampian | volume=68 | issue=836 | page=14 | via=Google Books}} The ARK2000MT made use in Hercules' updated Stingray 64 released that year.{{cite book | last=Barkakati | first=Naba | date=1999 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NIs_AQAAIAAJ&q=%22ARK2000MT%22+%22stingray%22 | title=Red Hat Linux Secrets | publisher=Wiley | page=178 | isbn=9780764546396 | via=Google Books}} The ARK2000MI+, branded as the Quadro64 and released in May 1996, introduced the ARK Peripheral Expansion Bus (APEX), an semi-proprietary internal bus based on VESA's Video Module Interface proposal that allowed the chip to be used beyond strictly outputting computer graphics; for example, given the right ADC, the Quadro64 could be converted into a TV tuner.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=May 20, 1996 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/221609681/ | title=This Week in Multimedia | journal=Multimedia Week | publisher=Phillips Business Information Corporation | page=1 | via=ProQuest}}{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=June 1997 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/208118981/ | title=Accelerator optimized for DRAMs | journal=Electronic Engineering Times | publisher=CMP Publications | page=P16 | via=ProQuest}} Eggebrecht explored designing a media processor—a burgeoning class of DSP that aimed to integrate all multimedia functions into one monolithic IC—but he ultimately decided on a traditional parallelized approach with APEX.

Sales in ARK Logic's chips slowed down significantly at the end of 1996.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=January 3, 1997 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A19162376/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=596bfe4f | title=Henry I. Boreen | journal=Philadelphia Business Journal | publisher=American City Business Journals | volume=15 | issue=46 | page=6 | via=Gale}} Besides a reference design board for a Quadro64-based TV tuner called the Quadro64TV announced in January 1997,{{cite web | last=Staff writer | date=January 15, 1997 | url=https://www.eetimes.com/ark-logic-unveils-new-design-implementing-tv-display-for-pcs/ | title=ARK Logic Unveils New Design Implementing TV Display for PCs | work=EETimes | publisher=Aspencore | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20250215063428/https://www.eetimes.com/ark-logic-unveils-new-design-implementing-tv-display-for-pcs/ | archivedate=February 15, 2025}} the company released no new products that year.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=May 25, 1998 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/221614788/ | title=Ark Attempts a Comeback | journal=Multimedia Week | publisher=Phillips Business Information Corporation | volume=7 | issue=21 | page=1 | via=ProQuest}} On January 13, 1997, Lu stepped down as CEO and president of ARK Logic, being replaced by Allan Havemose while remaining COO.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=January 13, 1997 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/208108597/ | title=TimesPeople | journal=Electronic Engineering Times | publisher=CMP Publications | page=108 | via=ProQuest}} In July 1997, ICS sold off 80 percent of their stake in ARK Logic to Vision 2000 Ventures, a holding company based in the Cayman Islands, relieving the company of $2.3 million of debt.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=June 18, 1987 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-business-news/165543593/ | title=Integrated Circuit Systems sells part of its stake in ARK Logic | journal=The Philadelphia Inquirer | page=C3 | via=Newspapers.com}} Shortly after, ICS sold off Turtle Beach and relinquished its remaining minority stake in ARK. According to the ICS president Stav Prodromou, the acquisitions of ARK and Turtle Beach were "not well advised and were so far afield from what we do best they ended up hurting the company".{{cite journal | last=Wilen | first=John | date=January 16, 1998 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A20349466/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=3a0725fa | title=Integrated reorganized, recharged | journal=Philadelphia Business Journal | publisher= American City Business Journals | volume=16 | issue=49 | page=1 et seq | via=Gale}}

In May 1998, ARK Logic announced the Tiger 3D, their first 3D accelerator chip. It included up to 8 MB of video memory, 4 MB of texture memory, a 250 MHz RAMDAC, a 24-bit Z-buffer, and an 8-bit stencil buffer. The company earned manufacturing commitments from TSMC and LG Semicon to produce the Tiger 3D. In February 1999, the company attempted to re-enter the 3D accelerator market with the Ark 8800 Cougar 3D, with its performance compared to Intel's i740 and ATI's 3D Rage Pro. Industry analysts placed serious doubts on ARK's ability to compete in the 3D marketplace, as those aforementioned chips were rapidly aging at the time of the Cougar 3D's announcement; in addition, the i740 was a commercial flop, with Intel forced to dump them on the market at steep markdowns.{{cite journal | last=Brown | first=Peter | date=February 15, 1999 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/209729158/ | title=Another 3-D engine enters the fray | journal=Electronic News | publisher=Reed Business Information | volume=45 | issue=2257 | page=10 | via=ProQuest}}

ARK Logic's website went dark in September 2002.{{cite web | date=2002 | url=http://www.arklogic.com/ | title=Welcome to ARK Logic, Inc. | publisher=ARK Logic, Inc. | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20020914043217/http://www.arklogic.com:80/ | archivedate=September 14, 2002}} Compare with next available archived snapshot. Despite the company's GPUs languishing in obscurity, X.Org Foundation still maintains 2D graphics drivers for ARK GPUs for X.Org Server {{as of|2023|02|lc=y}}.

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• {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970530024049/arklogic.com|date=May 30, 1997|title=Official website}}

Category:1993 establishments in California

Category:2002 disestablishments in California

Category:American companies established in 1993

Category:American companies disestablished in 2002

Category:Computer companies established in 1993

Category:Computer companies disestablished in 2002

Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States

Category:Defunct computer companies based in California

Category:Defunct computer hardware companies

Category:Defunct semiconductor companies of the United States

Category:Fabless semiconductor companies

Category:Graphics hardware companies