MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest supplier of chips used in smartphones, plans to launch its new flagship 5G chip by February in a bid to capture a bigger share of the rapidly growing market, a company executive said yesterday.
The announcement indicates that the Hsinchu-based chipmaker is gaining confidence about the rollout of its new 5G chip designed for premium smartphones. The chipmaker two months ago gave a more vague schedule, saying that new phones powered by its new Dimensity 5G chip would enter mass production early next year.
The remarks came after the company’s bigger rival Qualcomm Inc last week unveiled its new flagship 5G chip, the Snapdragon 888, for premium smartphones.
Photo: Vanessa Cho, Taipei Times
MediaTek said that its chip would be launched by the Lunar New Year, which falls in February, and that it expects replacement demand to take off next year as shipments of 5G handsets worldwide are set to double from more than 200 million units this year.
The growth momentum is set to carry into 2023, with the 5G penetration rate expected to climb to about 60 percent from 49 percent in 2022, MediaTek chief executive Rick Tsai (蔡力行) said in a speech entitled “Accelerating the Digital Economy post the COVID-19 pandemic” at the IEEE Global Communications Conference in Taipei yesterday.
The 5G smartphone penetration rate is expected to reach 18 percent this year, beating MediaTek’s expectations, Tsai said.
The company’s strategy is to build a comprehensive product portfolio for smartphones with different price points, he said, adding that the chipmaker plans to roll out a new 5G system-on-a-chip for entry-level smartphones.
The company’s high-end Dimensity 1000 chip has been adopted by LG Electronics Inc for its new 5G smartphone for US consumers, while Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀) launched its Reno 4Z smartphone using the Dimensity 800 in Europe this quarter.
Thanks to its higher bandwidth and low latency, 5G technology is being adopted in applications beyond smartphones, including routers, connected devices, automotive wireless communications and industrial Internet-of-Things applications, Tsai said.
Working from home, remote study and the stay-at-home economy has become the new norm due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, adding that the trend is set to stay even after the pandemic subsides.
MediaTek has introduced multiple chips to address those demands, he added.
The company in the third quarter posted a more than 40 percent growth in revenue across the board, including chips used in Chromebooks.
Pandemic-induced lockdowns and constraints on movement are boosting the digital economy, Tsai said.
Mobile network traffic is set to grow at an annual compound rate of 26 percent through 2022 from 2018, mostly driven by the streaming of videos, he said.
Restaurant chain Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) today announced it is to close 14 stores in northern China, completely exiting the market by the end of October. Beijing Hengtaifeng Catering Co (北京恆泰豐餐飲), which operates Din Tai Fung restaurants in northern China, said its 20-year operating license expires this year. As the board was unable to reach a consensus on continuing operations, its 14 restaurants in the region are to close by Oct. 31, it said. The company apologized for the inconvenience and disappointment the news would cause among its customers, and said it would provide compensation for its workers. “We continue to be optimistic about
EXPANDING: The European Commission has contributed 5 billion euros in state aid to TSMC’s 12-inch wafer fab in Dresden, Germany, which broke ground on Tuesday Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Saturday said that it has received a total of NT$62.5 billion (US$1.95 billion) in subsidies from China and Japan since 2022. In the first half of this year, TSMC received NT$7.96 billion in subsidies from China and Japan after receiving about NT$47.55 billion last year and obtaining NT$7.05 billion in 2022, financial data compiled by the world’s largest contract chipmaker showed. The company, which makes about 90 percent of the world’s high-end semiconductors, said the subsidies were used to finance its investments in Kumamoto, Japan, and Nanjing, China. TSMC owns a 12-inch wafer fab in
STRATEGIC SHIFT: Diversifying away from the volatile flat-panel industry, AUO aims to boost sales contribution from non-panel business to half of total revenue by 2027 AUO Corp (友達) yesterday said it has agreed to sell its idled manufacturing facility and land in Tainan to Micron Technology Inc for NT$7.4 billion (US$231.8 million) as the company shifts strategy to reduce the impact from the boom-and-bust flat-panel display industry. The company expects to book NT$4.17 billion in disposal gains from the sale, it said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing. The Tainan factory produced color filters used in monitors, notebook computers and flat-panel TVs before being shut down last year, as AUO sought to optimize its asset utilization. The company has been striving to diversify and broaden its business
Micron Technology Inc has reportedly set its sights on two facilities owned by flat-panel maker AUO Corp (友達) after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) recently clinched a deal to buy a facility and equipment from Innolux Corp (群創), another major flat-panel maker. Micron, the world’s third-largest memorychip maker, is expected to purchase two AUO plants in Tainan to expand its advanced chip packaging and testing services and high-bandwidth memory production, local media reports said. The two plants were shut down in August last year and AUO is seeking to dispose of the facilities, the reports said. They are expected to cost Micron