While MediaTek and Qualcomm have been known rivals in the smartphone chipset market for many years now, the latter had always been the leader in the segment. But now, MediaTek has finally become the largest smartphone SoC maker this year.

According to the Taiwanese chip maker’s CEO Rick Tsai, “We are now the largest smartphone SoC maker globally. We continue to gain share across all regions of the world.” The senior official made that statement in a recent investor conference in Taiwan. The company appears to have seen great growth, which was enabled it to expand outside of its previous dependence on Chinese customers. The CEO added that the brand’s Android smartphone market share in North America alone will cross 25 percent this year.

For those unaware, MediaTek sells chips to almost every smartphone OEM across the globe, with its Dimensity lineup of 5G processors even being offered to the flagship segment as well. The growth of the company can be attributed to its strong performance in the 5G segment that allowed it to become the market leader, rather than being a “fast follower in the phone business,” as per EETimesAsia.

In the third quarter of 2021, the smartphone SoC’s accounted for 56 percent of its revenue. This was a sizeable increase of 72 percent from the same period last year, with the robust rise being attributed to the growth of 5Gand its market share gains. Tsai also believes that MediaTek can further grow in the 5G segment through its proprietary design architecture, low power design expertise, and 4nm process technology from TSMC.

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A new report has suggested that MediaTek will lead the global smartphone SoC market while Qualcomm will lead the global 5G smartphone SoC market. This marks a major shift in the industry.

According to a Counterpoint Research report, the global smartphone AP (application processor)/System on Chip (SoC) market is expected to see a growth of 3 percent year on year in 2021. This modest growth arrives despite supply constraints, while the 5G smartphone market sees rapid growth. Qualcomm and MediaTek are both major fabless SoC vendors, with the former expected to lead the 5G SoC market with a 30 percent market share while the latter will lead the global SoC market with a 37 percent share.

Research Director Dale Gai stated that “When we break down our forecast with respect to the current demand-supply dynamics, MediaTek is likely to continue its Q4 2020 momentum into 2021 and likely to capture 37% unit share of all the smartphone AP/SoC shipped for the full the year. This 20% potential annual uptick in demand is a function of competitive 5G portfolio powering sub-$150 5G smartphones manufactured at TSMC without any supply constraint and growing share in 4G segment.”

The report also adds that MediaTek would be benefitting from the supply constraint that has affected Qualcomm. These constraints are regarding RFICs (radio-frequency integrated circuits) from Samsung’s Austin fab, Power management ICs (PMIC), along with relatively lower 5nm production yields. Although, Qualcomm is expected to see better performance in the latter half of this year as it would seek to boost its 5G enabled Snapdragon lineup.

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While Qualcomm and MediaTek are the two primary chip suppliers of smartphone based chipsets, a growing number of Chinese OEMs are working on launching their own proprietary mobile processors.

According to a DigiTimes report, this includes smartphone makers from China like Oppo and Xiaomi, who are working on developing their own 5G SoC. Furthermore, the news also arrives amid a major global ship shortage that has affected various industries across the world. This has even caused companies to struggle to supply semiconductors for their products. Notably, NOR flash chip makers stated that more of their clients are now willing to strike long term supply contracts as well.

Similarly, the demand from MCU clients is also strong in the backend firms. For those unaware, Oppo and Xiaomi are expected to announce their in house sub 6GHz 5G processors sometime between late 2021 and early 2022. This would have both firms join the ranks of other fabless chip makers (firms that design their own chips bt contract production to other companies).

Another vendor that is also working on their own chips includes Unisoc, which will be competing with rival chip makers, Qualcomm and MediaTek, as per sources close to the matter. Talking about the back end firms, companies like SE Technology, Greatek Electronics, Lingsen Precision Industries and Orient Semiconductor Electronics (OSE) are still seeing robust demand for MCUs that are used in a wide array of consumer electronic products, medical care, and even automotive electronics as well.

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4G devices are still a prime priority in many countries even as 5G is picking up steam. And as if the existing problems weren’t enough, a new report says the 4G, 5G SoCs. And its components are facing a shortage in supply.

Digitimes report says that according to a few IC distribution sources, there is a good deal of demand for 4G, and 5G SoCs. This is a no-brainer but sources say that their supply is facing a shortage. One of the reasons is reportedly the shortage of PA components for both 4G and 5G models. Here, PA refers to Power Amplifiers that filters, amplifies network frequency while selecting a home network(local).

Also, as per the report, the main reason for the shortage of 4G SoCs is due to Huawei’s heavy stockpiling of IC components. The company had to do it in order to evade an impending shortage it could face after the reinforced restrictions of the US that took effect from September 15. The report adds that PA components are frequently present on IoT devices these days apart from Smartphones.

As a result, IDMs(Integrated Device Manufacturers) including Skyworks have extended the delivery time of FR. And PA components to 8-12 weeks. For the unware, Skyworks(Skywork Solutions Inc.,) is a US-based semiconductor company. It manufactures RF(Radio Frequency), and mobile communication systems. Coming back, if the report is true, the squeeze on supply will relax before 2020 ends.

However, despite a steady demand from China, the procurement figures of 5G SoCs will largely depend on the sale of 5G devices in the upcoming Double Eleven festival. And New Year Holidays in China. This is understandable considering 5G devices are wildly popular in China. And its  5G deployment is ahead of the rest of the world.

Although the IC distributors will have to adjust the inventories as per the fluctuating demand, they will reportedly flourish in Logic. And Analog IC shipments including memory chips for desktop and notebooks(laptops) as work from home situation still exists.

UP NEXT: Huawei rejected from building 5G network in Romania

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