MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s largest handset chip designer, yesterday said its strategic collaboration with Nvidia Corp is on track and expected to bear fruit within two to three years, easing concerns over Nvidia’s newly announced partnership with Intel Corp to develop PC chips.
MediaTek shares fell 2.43 percent to NT$1,405, underperforming the TAIEX’s 1.18 percent gain, as investors worried that Nvidia’s work with Intel might overshadow its joint PC-chip projects with MediaTek based on Arm Holdings PLC’s architecture.
“We are quite complementary to one another in terms of product and technology,” MediaTek president Joe Chen (陳冠州) told reporters during the launch of the company’s new flagship Dimensity 9500 smartphone chip.
Photo: Vanessa Cho, Taipei Times
“Our cooperation is not limited to one single product, but covers end devices powered by Arm-based compute [technology], cars and even cloud-based NVLink-related [products],” Chen said. “The cooperation is progressing quite well and is following our original schedule. We believe the cooperation will bear fruit in the next two or three years as expected.”
As for Intel, MediaTek’s cooperation is focused on foundry services using less advanced technologies, with some products still in development, senior vice president J.C. Hsu (徐敬全) said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continues to be MediaTek’s key foundry partner for advanced processes, including its forthcoming 2-nanometer technology, the chip designer said.
MediaTek is also preparing to use TSMC’s Arizona plant to produce chips, as some US customers prefer domestically made components for cars or other sensitive products, Hsu said.
Customers are also weighing imminent US semiconductor tariffs, he said.
The company said its new Dimensity 9500 is among the first mobile chips built on TSMC’s 3-nanometer process, featuring advanced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.
MediaTek’s Chinese customer Vivo Communication Technology Co (維沃) yesterday announced it would launch its Vivo X300 series in November in Taiwan, powered by the Dimensity 9500.
The new chip has been adopted by most Android smartphone makers, including Samsung Electronics Co, reinforcing its 40 percent share of the global mobile chip market, MediaTek said.
The company aims to lift its flagship mobile chip’s market share to match its overall 40 percent share of the global handset market, capitalizing on rising flagship smartphone sales worldwide.
MediaTek expects global smartphone shipments to grow only 1 to 2 percent annually amid sluggish economic conditions, Hsu said.
In China, government subsidies spurred some early pull-in demand, but have so far failed to boost new demand, he said.
Worldwide growth next year is likely to mirror this year’s pace, at an annual rate of 2 percent, he added.
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