Taiwanese fabless semiconductor manufacturer MediaTek has disclosed that it plans to increase investment in research and development (R&D) as well as brand awareness. This is in a bid to be in a good position to compete as more Chinese smartphone OEMs venture into manufacturing their own chipset.
In an interview granted in Shenzhen on Wednesday, the company’s president, Joe Chen stated, “MediaTek needs to stay ahead and offer the best technology even if this phase reverses.”
Guess the Taiwanese company isn’t taking any chances this time around. It could be recalled that MediaTek used to compete with US chip giant Qualcomm in the chip market, including flagship chipsets. Bt that as changed as the company lost out completely to Qualcomm in the high-end market. It later shifted its focus to the midrange and budget chip market and that paid off. The company chipset is used on smartphones as well as home appliances such as TVs. Its smartphone chip business generates about a third of overall group revenue, with most of its sales coming from Android phone makers, especially those in China.
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In recent times, the trade war with e US has led to China’s President Xi Jinping calling for greater self-sufficiency in strategic industries such as semiconductors. Already, Xiaomi has its own chipset, the Surge S1. OPPO, currently ranked as the second-largest smartphone vendor in China has started to develop its own chips, according to several Chinese media reports, citing unidentified sources. That has not been confirmed by OPPO. Huawei has already attained self-reliance status with its Kirin chipsets.
MediaTek is also working seriously to get its 5G chipset up and running as a way to re-enter the high-end market. “We’ve never given up on the high-end market and are striving to develop all the necessary technologies to stay competitive,” said Yenchi Lee, senior director of product marketing for MediaTek’s wireless business, in a telephone interview on Tuesday. MediaTek’s 5G chipset is expected to be rolled out in the first quarter of 2020. The good thing about it is that it aims to help vendors bring down the retail price of 5G phones below 2,000 yuan (US$283) in the second half next year.
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(source)
