MediaTek Inc (聯發科), which competes with Qualcomm Inc in the mobile phone chip segment, yesterday said it has started close collaborations with global telecom operators and device makers to unveil its first 5G modem processor next year.
Huawei Technologies Co (華為), Nokia Oyj, Japan’s NTT Docomo and China Mobile Ltd (中國移動) are among MediaTek’s partners for developing 5G technologies, the company said.
“MediaTek’s first 5G modem, the MTK Helio M70, is to be ready next year, with specifications and performance matching new 5G standards, which are to be released this month,” company president Joe Chen (陳冠州) told a media briefing in Taipei.
Photo: Reuters
The company has made good progress in developing 5G technologies, as it joined the 5G standard-building body, 3GPP, very early, Chen said, adding that this has been a different experience than during the 4G era.
Starting as a supplier of controllers used in traditional CD-ROM storage, MediaTek has lagged behind its global competitors and struggled to supply 4G chips.
“MediaTek will be one of the leading players in 5G technology,” Chen said.
It is the company’s goal to introduce its 5G processors to all addressable segments of mobile phones, similar to what the company did for its 2G and 3G processors, he said.
The company has decided not to limit itself to premium phones or any niche market, he said.
“MediaTek believes that the most sought-after user experience and features should not just be available on high-end mobile phones and should not be limited to certain countries,” Chen said.
The company has contributed greatly to the proliferation of smartphones over the past two decades, allowing the public to access the Internet on a US$100 mobile phone rather than on a PC, he said.
Asked about Qualcomm Inc’s signing of a memorandum of understanding in February with major mobile phone companies in China to supply them with 5G technologies, Chen said MediaTek would continue to deepen its ties with its Chinese partners, because China continues to be a major market for the company.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by