GPMI is supported by TCL, Hisense and others.
It delivers much higher bandwidth and power than current display technologies.
We're not usually very excited about cables, but GPMI is no ordinary cable. It's a potential replacement for HDMI and DisplayPort, and it could transform your TV viewing and your gaming too.
GPMI – General Purpose Media Interface – has just been launched by the Shenzhen 8K UHD Video Industry Cooperation Alliance, which consists of more than 50 Chinese tech firms. It has been developed to carry more data than any other connection standard, and to deliver more power too.
How much data? How much power? Depending on the connector, you could be getting as much as 192Gbps and 480W.
How does GPMI compare to other display and data standards?
To be blunt, it leaves them in the dust: its maximum data bandwidth of 192Gbps is four times that of HDMI 2.1, and its maximum power output is twice that of USB 4.
There appear to be two versions of the connector, type B and type C. Type B is the faster one, with the 192Gbps/480W potential. But type C is pretty impressive too, maxing out at 96Gbps and 240W.
As our pals at Tom's Hardware point out, that's not enough power to run an RTX 5090 gaming PC through an 8K monitor. But "it's still more than enough for many gaming laptops with high-end discrete graphics". That would mean a much simpler setup for gaming, enabling you to use a single cable for power and data.
As for non-gamers, GPMI offers much less cabling and works with universal standards such as HDMI-CEC so you can control everything without a world of remote controls. And if it catches on it could mean TVs powering all our additional devices instead of requiring a separate plug for your TV streaming device and other accessories.
Of course, the TV tech graveyard is full of great-sounding technologies that didn't catch on. But this stands a good chance of success thanks to the companies involved, which include TCL, Hisense and Huawei. And the goals are big – while consumer entertainment is the first priority, GPMI could be useful in smart home, security, automotive and industrial applications too.
