MediaTek approves $5B financing budget to fund custom AI data-center chips
MediaTek's board cleared a $5 billion discretionary financing budget for its push into custom AI data-center chips, with CEO Rick Tsai raising the 2027 addressable market estimate to $80 billion and the company's target share to 15-20% from 10-15%. First custom chip enters production in Q4, a second in volume by 2028, and over $2 billion of data-center AI revenue is expected in 2026. The urgency is visible in the other half of the results: mobile-chip revenue fell 20% year over year, making the ASIC bet a replacement for the smartphone business rather than an add-on.
Source: thestar.com.my ↗
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Why this matters
- → Smartphone chip maker pivoting to AI as mobile revenue collapses 20% YoY
- → $80B addressable market and 15-20% target share signal potential scale
- → First custom chip in Q4; $2B data-center revenue expected in 2026