MediaTek Inc (聯發科), which supplies handset chips mostly to Chinese brands such as Lenovo Group (聯想), yesterday unveiled its new octo-core chips in Shenzhen, China, a move that analysts said is likely to boost the company’s market share in the world’s biggest mobile phone market.
Daiwa Capital Markets forecast MediaTek’s market share in China’s smartphone chip market to reach 50 percent next year from 48 percent this year.
“Octo-core ICs could become a mainstream staple in China by next year,” Daiwa analyst Eric Chen (陳慧明) said in a report.
Building on the advanced 28-nanometer process, the MT6592 has eight CPU cores, each capable of clocking speeds of up to 2 gigahertz (GHz), according to MediaTek.
The new chip boosts multimedia capabilities and mobile connectivity and it has been adopted by some of the company’s major clients, who plan to launch several smartphones equipped with the chip at the end of this year and next quarter, MediaTek said in a press statement.
“Being the first to market this advanced 8-core system-on-chip is a testament to MediaTek’s industry-leading position,” Jeffrey Ju (朱尚祖), a general manager at MediaTek’s smartphone division, said in the statement.
Chen said the MT6592 chip would help Chinese smartphone makers gain access to the mid and high-end segments and narrow their technology gap with global brands.
It would also help boost orders from global brands, he added.
Rival Qualcomm Inc yesterday downplayed the impact MediaTek’s new chip was likely to have, but declined to comment on whether it would follow MediaTek’s lead and unveil octo-core chip.
“More cores will not make your apps faster. Faster cores will make your apps move faster,” Qualcomm said in a statement.
Qualcomm said it has boosted performance of its new Snapdragon 800 chip by 160 percent, compared with previous Snapdragon 400 chip. These two are both quad-core processors.
Shares in MediaTek ended 2.9 percent lower at NT$419 in Taipei trading yesterday before the announcement of the new chip.
Daiwa maintained a “buy” rating on MediaTek, with a target price of NT$480, implying a 14.56 percent upside.
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