MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest supplier of smartphone chips, yesterday said the tape-out process for its first 2-nanometer chip would take place in September, paving the way for volume production of its most advanced chip, likely to be its next-generation flagship smartphone chip, around the year-end at the earliest.
MediaTek has been leveraging advanced process technologies from its foundry partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to build its flagship mobile phone chips, a segment it once relinquished and then recovered four years ago as it released its Dimensity series.
In the semiconductor industry, a tape-out refers to the final stage of the chip design cycle before it is sent for manufacturing.
Photo: I-hwa Cheng, AFP
MediaTek’s most advanced mobile chip available is the Dimensity 9400, made on TSMC’s 3-nanometer process technology. The chip delivers a 25 percent power efficiency improvement and 15 percent enhancement in performance compared with its predecessor, MediaTek said.
“We are now moving into 2-nanometer [technology]. We will be taping out our first 2-nanometer device in September this year. Of course, this is a high-volume chip,” MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) said during his Computex keynote speech in Taipei themed “AI for Everyone: From Edge to Cloud.”
“You probably can guess what: 2 nanometers. I’m not allowed to announce, cause J.C. is here,” Tsai said, referring J.C. Hsu (徐敬全), MediaTek senior vice president in charge of wireless communications.
Tsai did not specify which product the 2 nanometer technology would be used to build.
MediaTek apparently would continue adopting next generations of technologies that follow Moore’s Law.
MediaTek said that as chip production technology is advancing to angstrom level, it would adopt 16A or 14A chips based on its long-term roadmap, Tsai said.
TSMC would start volume production of its 16A chips in the second half of next year.
“Whatever [technology] after that, MediaTek is in,” Tsai said.
MediaTek has been diversifying its product lines to minimize operational risks. Mobile chips remain the biggest revenue source of the company, making up about 56 percent of its total revenue last quarter.
Two years ago, MediaTek expanded its business scope to supply automotive chips, and most recently application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators for cloud-based data center operators and super chips, in collaboration with Nvidia Corp.
As AI data center chips are usually much larger than those for mobile phones or TVs, “people wonder if MediaTek can do that, as it is known as a consumer electronics company. Yes, we can,” Tsai said.
MediaTek has a record of accomplishment in developing ASICs for data centers, he said.
The company is ready to supply four different sizes of chips, from a type of mobile phone chip to an automotive chip and two big networking chips, including one equipped with high-band-width memory (HBM) chips, he said.
The company’s networking chip with HBM chips has been under volume production for more than one year, measuring 91x91mm2, he said.
As for super chips, MediaTek would be supplying chips used in Nvidia’s new AI-based personal device, DGX Spark, Tsai said.
Nvidia did not disclose the product’s launch date, but CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said that it would make a good Christmas present.
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
RSS