• MediaTek’s new flagship SoC, the Dimensity 9200, contains around 17 billion transistors, making it one of the most powerful mobile platforms.
• The second-generation thin modem T800 is expected to build on the T700’s design wins.
• The Kompanio 520 and 528 chipsets will bring full HD+, dual monitors and smart TV connectivity to entry-level Chromebooks.
• The Pentonic 1000 chipset will bring new AI advancements as well as versatile video coding to flagship 4K 120Hz TVs.

Open and Informative Executive Summit Event

MediaTek recently held its annual Executive Summit in Sonoma, California. The summit saw announcements on new products and detailed business updates, including on upcoming mobile, broadband, TV and metaverse products. CEO Rick Tsai and CFO David Ku were among the management officials who spoke on the occasion and fielded questions from analysts and media. Despite growing to become the fourth-largest fabless semiconductor company, MediaTek is often behind the scenes. Events like this have broadened the chipmaker’s brand recognition and understanding of its large range of business units. There are many businesses where MediaTek’s semiconductor solutions are positioned at the top or near the top:

• Smartphones
• Android tablets
• Arm-based Chromebooks
• Smart speakers
• Connectivity, broadband and networking
• Power management
• ASIC solutions
• Smart TV and digital TV
• Optical drive and BD players
• Feature phones
• Digital cameras
• Automotive connectivity and telematics

MediaTek’s 2026 revenue TAM is forecasted to grow to $780 billion. Business unit revenues will grow more diverse over the next four years.

Source: MediaTek

MediaTek has outperformed the tech industry over the past four years. The company’s revenues have doubled, and operating profits have grown 5.5x during the period. Its technology roadmap is strong and diverse. Here are the key announcements made during the event:

New smartphone flagship SoC – Dimensity 9200

• This is MediaTek’s second flagship SoC launch. The company has over 30 design wins to date with its first flagship SoC, which will likely grow to over 50 design wins.
• MediaTek’s new flagship SoC is based on TSMC’s enhanced 4nm process. It contains around 17 billion transistors, making it one of the most powerful mobile platforms.
• Its CPU architecture consists of 1x Cortex-X3 core up to 3.05GHz, 3x A715 performance cores @ 2.85GHz, and 4x A510 efficiency cores @ 1.8GHz. Single-core performance is claimed to increase speeds by 12% and multi-core performance by 10%. We look forward to sizable gains in testing on devices upon launch.
• The GPU is built on Arm’s latest Immortalis-G715 cores (MC11) and has hardware-based ray-tracing ability and support for MediaTek’s HyperEngine 6.0 game engine. There are also new algorithms introduced that use less power and keep device temperatures lower.
• Enhanced APU will enable 4K@30fps night video shooting with high clarity and can deliver more innovations paired with the Imagiq 890 ISP.
• Compared to the Dimensity 9000 (last year’s flagship), the APU and GPU represent the areas with the most significant performance improvements.
• It is the industry’s first Wi-Fi 7-ready mobile SoC. The SoC is built on a 6nm node process, which fosters big power consumption savings.
• It has the first integrated mmWave solution with a new ‘beam forming’ approach.  mmWave 5G is testing 2x faster than Sub-6 5G.
• New packaging techniques will help with temperature control. The company noted the new packaging techniques improved heat dissipation by 10%, equating to a delayed rise in temperature allowing for 4x longer use (or play) time.
• As with every new SoC launch, the true test will be when we are able to test devices in the market. Looking at the spec upgrades, these are sizeable upgrades and should help MediaTek chip away at share in the high end. This is especially true for the China market.
• AI/camera ISP improvements will be among the key selling points. Upgrades include a better understanding of the environment, which means the ISP will understand objects and backgrounds and will apply different color processing. There is support for a dual-stream AI shutter for better photos for shots with high amounts of movement. Great effort has been made to improve night shots, long exposure shots and high dynamic shots. We look forward to seeing how OEMs implement these upgrades.
• The SoC is already sampling with OEMs and smartphones will be in the market in Q1 2023. vivo will launch the first smartphone with the Dimensity 9200. vivo has designed the 9200 into its X90 series. Other OEMs committed to the new SoC include Xiaomi, OPPO, and ASUS.

Filogic T800 thin modem for applications outside of smartphones

• MediaTek announced a new 4nm 5G thin modem for applications such as always-connected PCs, M2M and industrial IoT.
• Supports SA and NSA Sub-6 and mmWave 5G networks.
• Supports download speeds of up to 7.9Gbps and upload speeds of up to 4.2Gbps.
• MediaTek is targeting the always-connected PC space. There will be up to 50 PC design wins of the T700 in 2023 and the second-generation thin modem T800 should build on these design wins.

Kompanio 520 and 528 chipsets for entry Chromebooks

• The Kompanio updates will bring new experiences to entry Chromebooks. They support full HD+, dual monitors, and smart TV connectivity.
• Key specs:
  • Arm Mali G52 MC2 2EE, LPDDR4x memory with a max frequency 3733MHz, eMMC 5.1 storage with a hardware command queue
  • Hi-Fi 5 DSP, 2560 x 1200 display support at 60Hz and 1920 x 1080 external monitor display support at 60Hz
  • 1920 x 1080 at 60fps video encoding
  • All-day battery life, energy efficient, and fan-less design
• According to MediaTek, the 528/520 are testing 15% faster multi-tasking and 20% faster GPU. The 520 is outperforming the Intel N4500.
• The chips support the latest Google security framework.
• MediaTek is increasing its go-to-market activities with more marketing within BestBuy/Amazon and pushing the space at education trade shows.
• Asus and Lenovo will have devices in the market early in 2023.

Pentonic 1000 chipset for flagship 4K 120Hz TVs

• MediaTek is the number one semi supplier to TV OEMs with over 60% global market share.
• Key specs of the Pentonic 1000:
  • Wi-Fi 6/6E support aiding cloud gaming
  • Supports ATSC 3.0, AV1, HEVC, VP9, AVS3 and designed for VVC (H.266)
  • Updated voice assistant features that allow consumers to connect smart TVs to other smart home devices
  • Supports Dolby Atmos immersive sound
• After an accelerated upgrade period during the COVID-19 pandemic, the TV industry is seeing a slowdown and higher-than-normal inventories. 8k will not be a driver for some time.
• Xbox and PS5 updates are driving demand for 4k 120Hz flagship TV sales. AI advancements are improving picture and audio quality for better TV and gaming experiences.
• Versatile video coding (VVC) will begin to be adopted within flagship televisions.
• Dolby Vision IQ with Precision Detail will improve the 4K streaming TV experience, cloud gaming and video conferencing by adjusting the on-screen picture depending on how bright the room is.
• TVs with the Pentonic 1000 will be seen in the market in Q1 2023 and showcased at CES.

MediaTek Designed Into Sony PlayStation VR2

• Sony will launch its next-generation VR headset early in 2023. Multiple sources have written there will be two million units available at launch.
• MediaTek will supply the SoC in the headset display. This is a great design win for MediaTek.
• MediaTek believes XR will grow from under $1 billion today to $100 billion by 2030.

Outlook

MediaTek has the right approach toward the premium smartphone segment with its second-generation solution. It will take patience, quality and investment, more so against the backdrop of China market weakness and the overall macroeconomic slowdown, to continue on the growth path. But having a diversified portfolio and new chipsets for its IoT portfolio, including thin modem solutions, 5G FWA, Wi-Fi 7, 4K TVs, connected PCs, XR and gaming ASICs, will help the company through this challenging period.

The automotive business segment is small but important. It is another vertical which will help the cause, but it will take some time. Double-digit growth from a very small base is possible. Today, automotive solutions include power ICs, telematics, smart cockpit and infotainment. Eventually, the company will move into higher ASP automotive solutions.