MediaTek Inc (聯發科), which designs chips used in smartphones from major Chinese brands including Xiaomi Corp (小米) and Lenovo Group (聯想), yesterday launched a global recruitment program to hire 2,000 new employees to cope with the company’s rapidly growing businesses.
MediaTek launched the program at a jobs fair held by National Taiwan University in Taipei yesterday. The program is part of the company’s broader efforts to boost its research and development capabilities to prepare for intensifying competition.
“MediaTek has 10,000 employees working in 27 locations in 12 countries. They work in different divisions, including marketing, research and development and customer services,” MediaTek chairman Tsai Ming-Kai (蔡明介) said during a speech at the jobs fair.
Photo: CNA
“MediaTek offers an environment for employees to learn and grow with world-class talents,” Tsai said.
To support the company’s strong growth this year and in the longer term, MediaTek plans to boost research and development spending by 20 percent annually this year, as it foresees a need to develop advanced patents for 4G long-term evolution (LTE) technology, the firm said.
MediaTek allocated 20.3 percent of its total revenue for research and development last year, according to statistics released two weeks ago by IC Insights Inc.
Meanwhile, MediaTek aims to double its LTE market share in China to 40 percent this year, taking on larger rival Qualcomm Inc.
“This year will be another year of investment for MediaTek. We will significantly expand research and development resources to accelerate development of new products and new technologies,” company president Hsieh Ching-jiang (謝清江) told investors last month.
“We hope to recruit top talent from around the world to broaden our product lines. We also plan to invest on advanced processor manufacturing and cutting-edge technologies,” Hsieh said.
MediaTek is broadening its smartphone chip lineup and expanding into new areas, including chips for wearable devices.
With new products in the pipeline and fast-growing LTE chip demand from China, the company aims to grow its revenue by 10 to 20 percent this year from a record-high of NT$213.06 billion (US$6.74 billion) last year.
To entice high-quality potential candidates, MediaTek is offering salaries starting at NT$1 million per year for new employees with a master’s degree, and those who have earned their doctorate would receive at least NT$1.5 million per year, the company said. The offerings do not include annual employee bonuses or any other compensation.
The Hsinchu-based company yesterday also launched an internship program for 200 college students from Taiwan and overseas to work as apprentices at MediaTek during the summer vacation.
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process
CHANGING JAPAN: Nvidia-powered AI services over cellular networks ‘will result in an artificial intelligence grid that runs across Japan,’ Nvidia’s Jensen Huang said Softbank Group Corp would be the first to build a supercomputer with chips using Nvidia Corp’s new Blackwell design, a demonstration of the Japanese company’s ambitions to catch up on artificial intelligence (AI). The group’s telecom unit, Softbank Corp, plans to build Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer to support local services, it said. That computer would be based on Nvidia’s DGX B200 product, which combines computer processors with so-called AI accelerator chips. A follow-up effort will feature Grace Blackwell, a more advanced version, the company said. The announcement indicates that Softbank Group, which until early 2019 owned 4.9 percent of Nvidia, has secured a
RSS