MediaTek confirms it is working on a 2 nm chip

Now that 3 nm smartphone SoCs have been around for a while, everyone is looking at the next big node shift: 2 nm. Apple is usually the first to adopt new nodes, but there's still ambiguity if that will happen with TSMC's N2 node. If Apple is somehow forced to stick with N3P, MediaTek could very well be the first company to get a 2 nm smartphone SoC out of the door.

In its Computex 2025 presentation, the Taiwanese chipmaker confirmed its 2 nm offering will tape-out in September 2025, meaning its design will get finalized before it enters mass production. A previous TSMC client list showed MediaTek as one of its 2 nm customers. High-volume manufacturing for N2 starts in the second half of 2026, and if things so as per schedule, MediaTek's smartphone SoC could be ready for launch in late 2026.

The chip in question is very likely the Dimensity 9600. No information about the SoC has surfaced so far, and it probably won't anytime soon because the chip is still over a year from launch. Historically, MediaTek's offerings were a tad more affordable than their Qualcomm counterparts, but that might not be the case with the Dimensity 9600. TSMC's N2 wafers are exorbitantly priced as it is, and they could get even pricier if the rumoured 10% price hike goes through.