Computex 2024 reflections: MediaTek CEO reveals hidden strengths
I’ve been delving through my notes on Computex and putting together my reflections on the event and the state of the tech industry. A space of two months has given me the chance to gain some much-needed perspective on where generative AI hardware is headed and which players are set to take advantage of the new opportunities the shift to this technology is creating.
My favorite keynote at the event was given MediaTek’s Vice Chairman and CEO, Dr Rick Tsai, because it diverged from the product-focused presentations of other speakers to highlight the company’s technology capabilities and strategic partnerships.
Although MediaTek is not as widely known as some of its competitors such as Qualcomm, it is the largest chip provider for the global consumer electronics and smartphone markets and is building leading-edge capabilities across wide portfolio of compute, high-speed interconnect, and process, packaging, and memory integration technologies.
In his keynote, Dr Tsai highlighted MediaTek’s Dimensity line of smartphone System on Chips (SoCs), particularly the recently released Dimensity 9300+. When demonstrating the on-device AI capabilities of the 9300+, he noted wryly that the performance of its NPU comfortably exceeds the TOPS requirement for Microsoft Copilot+ PCs at 68. Unfortunately, he did not elaborate on whether he was interested in pursuing that particular market, though rumors abound that MediaTek and Nvidia are teaming up on the launch of an Arm-powered SoC targeted at that segment next year.
Dr Tsai went on to showcase MediaTek’s growing momentum in the automotive sector following the announcement of the partnership with Nvidia that began last year, as well as highlighting the potential of the custom compute market for the data center. With an estimated TAM of US$45 billion, this offers huge opportunities for MediaTek to leverage the company’s deep bench of advanced technologies and ecosystem partnerships to develop AI accelerators for specific vertical domains.
As an indication of how important MediaTek is becoming in the semiconductor business, Dr Tsai was joined on stage by Rene Haas, the CEO of Arm, and to the delight of the audience, Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO of Nvidia. In conversations that appeared far more natural than the scripted dialogs in other keynotes, Dr Tsai highlighted the strength and depth of the long-standing partnership between MediaTek and Arm with Renee Haas before going on to talk about the success of the automotive partnership between MediaTek and Nvidia with Jensen Huang as well as casually tossing around a few ideas for additional collaborations between the two companies.
MediaTek has maintained a relatively low profile compared to other semiconductor giants, but it is sure to become a much more prominent name as it flexes its technology muscles to enter new high-growth markets. When it comes to AI smartphones, PCs, and even accelerators, the company is set to be a major platform player.
