In March 2006, I provided in my 2006 HDTV Technology Review annual report some statistics showing the increasing adoption of HDMI by manufacturers, for example, according to market researcher In-Stat:

"More than 300 makers of consumer electronics and PC products worldwide have adopted HDMI. More than 17 million devices featuring HDMI were shipped during 2005 and 59 million more are expected to be shipped in 2006."

Internationally, HDMI is undergoing significant growth. In China, which alone accounts for almost a third of the world's television-owning households, 45 mainland Chinese companies have become HDMI adopters, and the number is growing rapidly.

In November 2005, China's first HDMI testing facility was announced in Shenzen, which will greatly simplify and accelerate the process of bringing HDMI to the Chinese market.

In August 2005, the Cable and Satellite Broadcast Association of Asia (CASBAA) recommended that HDMI (or DVI) and HDCP "be included on every set-top box capable of outputting uncompressed high definition content."

In Europe, the European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association (EICTA) in 2005 mandated that all HDTVs displaying the "HD Ready" logo must include HDMI or DVI inputs.

HDMI has also gained significant traction in the PC world over the past year. Among the PC-related companies (that also are HDMI founders and adopters) are industry leaders such as ATI, Hitachi, Intel, NVIDIA, Sony, and Toshiba.

"The consistent adoption of the HDMI specification by consumer electronics and PC manufacturers proves the high potential of the standard," said Scott Vouri, general manager of multimedia products at NVIDIA. "We believe in the interoperability of consumer electronics devices and personal computers as well as in the ability to view high definition content through a stable and secure standard, and this is why we support HDMI in NVIDIA's consumer PC graphics products."

"Disney has supported the deployment of HDMI since the first version of the specification was issued in 2002," said Bob Lambert, senior vice president of worldwide media technology and development at The Walt Disney Company. "The widespread adoption of HDMI in conjunction with HDCP has played an important role in enabling the transition to digital TV. We congratulate the HDMI community on achieving the important milestone of 300 adopters worldwide."

The following Silicon Image presentation highlights their efforts in the HDMI and HDCP adoption:

http://www.siliconimage.com/presentations/hdmi/index.html

As of July 2006, the 300 number has grown to about 435 manufacturers, date when HDMI Licensing, responsible for licensing the interface specification, announced a reduction of the annual administration fee paid by manufacturers to implement HDMI into their products from $15,000, to $10,000 as of November 1st 2006.

Stay tuned to the last part, Part 10 "Meeting the Standard"