Sat, May 30, 2026 page9

• MediaTek client passes TSMC for Intel

  DECISIONMAKING: While the majority of chips still use TSMC’s CoWoS technology, the unnamed client potentially favored the cost and capacity benefits of Intel’s EMIB

  • By Lisa Wang / Staff Reporter
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  MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday revealed that a data center client opted for Intel Corp’s advanced packaging technology to build an in-house customized artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator, marking the first adoption of the technology in MediaTek’s customized chip design portfolio.

  Mediatek did not disclose the customer’s name, but analysts said the company is designing a tensor process unit — an AI application-specific IC (ASIC) — for Google.

  The cloud services provider prefers Intel’s embedded multi-die interconnect bridge technology (EMIB) over the chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) technology offered by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), given substantial cost savings and capacity availability, analysts said.

  

  MediaTek Inc president Joe Chen, right, and co chief operating officer David Ku attend a pre-Computex media and investors’ gathering in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times

  “Since this is a customized chip, there are a variety of choices in terms of vendors. The customer might have taken all factors into consideration [before making the decision],” MediaTek co chief operational officer David Ku (顧大為) told reporters in Taipei yesterday.

  However, the majority of chips still utilize TSMC’s CoWoS technology, Ku said.

  The ASIC business is emerging as a new growth engine for the company, the world’s biggest mobile chip supplier, as the company expects it to contribute US$2 billion in revenue this year and multiple billion US dollars next year, attributable to acceleration in AI accelerator demand.

  TSMC is a long-standing close foundry partner of MediaTek, MediaTek vice chairman and chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) said in response to a shareholder’s question about the possibility of utilizing Intel’s foundry services in the US.

  MediaTek has been among the “first-wave” adopters of TSMC’s most advanced processing node technology from 12-nanometer to 2-nanometer and 1.4-nanometer technology, Tsai said, adding that the company also adopted TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies including next-generation copackaged optics technology.

  However, as a sizeable semiconductor company, MediaTek would naturally pay close attention to other companies with chip manufacturing capacities and capabilities in the long term to explore potential corporations if required, Tsai said.

  TSMC is the most important long-term partner of MediaTek, he added.

  MediaTek’s foundry strategy was spotlighted by the media after it was reported that Samsung Electronics Co chairman Jay Y. Lee sought to land a foundry deal with MediaTek during a recent visit.

  MediaTek’s new flagship smartphone chip would be made on TSMC’s 2-nanometer technology and is scheduled to hit the market in the second half of this year, Tsai told investors. MediaTek also has multiple test chips this year utilizing TSMC’s newest 1.4-nanometer technology, corporate vice president of MediaTek’s data center and compute business group Vince Hu said yesterday.

  To cope with customers’ requests to access local chip supplies, MediaTek said it also plans to utilize TSMC’s US chip capacity including 4-nanometer chips from TSMC’s first fab in Arizona next year and 3-nanometer chips from the second fab in 2028.

  Separately, MediaTek chairman Tsai Ming-kai (蔡明介) said hiking prices to reflect inflationary costs would become the new norm as explosive AI and computing power demand has led to rapid technology upgrades and caused short supply of key components such as memory chips.

  MediaTek would consider raising prices to pass on rising costs to customers, Tsai said.
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