Nvidia, MediaTek may challenge Qualcomm with new AI smartphone chip
Nvidia is reportedly preparing to re-enter the smartphone chip market through a partnership with MediaTek. The two companies are already working together on automotive chips. In the future, their cooperation could eventually expand to the high-performance mobile processors.
Industry insiders revealed in August 2024 that Nvidia and MediaTek are breaking new ground in the PC processor arena with an Arm-based chip designed for high-performance AI PCs. The chip is expected to be manufactured using TSMC's 3nm node.
Such a processor appears to have a strong chance of success. MediaTek has extensive experience in developing high-performance, power-efficient mobile processors, and Nvidia will surely be able to provide powerful integrated graphics that will also be useful in AI tasks. Sources suggest that this PC chip could hit the market as early as the second half of 2025.
Now it has also been reported that Nvidia and MediaTek may not stop at a PC processor but may also release an AI chip for smartphones. Although details about the project remain scarce, it could potentially disrupt the market. With Samsung having not released any high-performance chips in recent years, only Qualcomm and MediaTek are currently competing in the flagship segment. A partnership with Nvidia could give MediaTek an edge in graphics performance.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see if Nvidia manages to develop power-efficient GPU cores for mobile chips. The company has a proven track record in the smartphone chip arena—its Tegra processors were once used in flagship devices like the LG Optimus 2X and HTC One X. Additionally, we can recall its cooperation with Nintendo: the Switch is based on Nvidia's chip.
