MediaTek Inc (聯發科) shares rallied 1.29 percent yesterday after the nation’s biggest handset chip designer unveiled a super-low-cost handset chip in a bid to secure its market share.
MediaTek commands about 70 percent of China’s handset chip market and it hopes to safeguard this position, the company said.
MediaTek also hinted that it would not rule out cutting prices to fend off competition from competitors such as MStar Semiconductor Inc (Cayman) (開曼晨星半導體) and Shanghai-based Spreadtrum Communications Co (展訊通信).
The MT6252D chip — a new version of the popular MT6252 chip used in 2G mobile phones — boasts the world’s first memory-less single chip for mobile phones, which can help chip designers save on costs and time to market, the Hsinchu-based company said in a statement posted on its Web site on Monday.
“The MT6252D will help customers provide excellent audio and visual performance at a very low cost. The chip will also allow customers to differentiate their products,” MediaTek said in the statement.
Company president Hsieh Ching-jiang (謝清江) told investors on April 29 that shipments of the MT6252, which hit the market in March, would account for more than 30 percent of the company’s overall shipments next quarter.
MediaTek said that revenues this quarter were expected to expand by between 5 and 12 percent to NT$20.9 billion and NT$22.3 billion, from last quarter’s NT$19.87 billion, in which handset chips contributed more than 70 percent of the total.
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