MediaTek enters the AI ​​PC and server fields, and is helped by TSMC and Huida to expand its influence in semiconductor design

With the help of TSMC and Huida, MediaTek has entered the AI ​​PC and server fields. (European News Agency)

[Compiled by Wei Guojin/Taipei Report] Korean media "ChosunBiz" reported on the 23rd that after consolidating its status as a semiconductor foundry power, Taiwan is expanding its influence in the field of semiconductor design (fables semiconductors). MediaTek, once a fabless semiconductor company for mobile chips, has now entered the field of personal computer system-on-chip (SoC) and cooperated with Huida to expand its business into customized server chip design. This has allowed Taiwan to build a semiconductor system integrating strong manufacturing (TSMC) and design (MediaTek), further expanding its lead over South Korea.

Chip foundry and design are two holy mountains

The report pointed out that MediaTek recently announced that its new SoC "Dimensity CX C10 Max" will be used in Google's AI laptop platform Googlebook. This SoC uses TSMC’s 3nm advanced process and is equipped with a full-core 8-core CPU, 11-core GPU, and MediaTek’s 8th-generation NPU (Neural Network Processor) 890. The NPU 890 can provide up to 55 TOPS performance and is specially designed to support the Gemini Intelligence function.

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Not only that, MediaTek also received a US$3.5 billion convertible bond investment from Huida to launch its data center customized chip design business. MediaTek uses Huida's interconnect standard NVLink Fusion to design customized XPUs for super-large cloud service companies Google and Amazon, and connect them to Huida's rack-level AI systems.

According to reports, Samsung Electronics maintains competition with TSMC in the foundry field, but in the IC design field, apart from its Exynos series of mobile SoCs, it has not yet launched commercial personal computers and server products. Industry insiders believe that the gap between Taiwan (specializing in foundry and IC design) and South Korea (only involved in foundry) is widening.

Data from market research firm Counterpoint Research shows that in the second quarter of this year, TSMC’s global market share of pure wafer foundry was as high as 71%, while Samsung Electronics only had 8%. Since the fourth quarter of last year, Samsung's foundry and system LSI (System LSI) division has suffered quarterly losses of 1 trillion to 2 trillion won, while MediaTek's business has expanded from the Asian market to North America and Europe.

Industry executives emphasize that Taiwan's robust semiconductor ecosystem is the reason for this divide. A source familiar with Samsung's internal situation said, "MediaTek's growth is not only due to its design strength, but also because Taiwan Semiconductor's value chain: from TSMC's foundry to the back-end stage, has been very complete." He added, "With Huida now joining the alliance, MediaTek will have a structurally advantageous position in the PC and server fields."

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