On September 7, MediaTek and TSMC jointly announced that the development of MediaTek’s first Dimensity flagship chip produced using TSMC’s 3nm process is progressing smoothly and has been successfully taped out. It is expected to be mass-produced in 2024 and will be officially launched in the second half of the year. This flagship chip is not the Dimensity 9300 launched this year.
According to MediaTek General Manager Chen Guanzhou, TSMC’s 3nm process technology provides complete platform support for high-performance computing and mobile applications, and also has enhanced performance, power consumption and yield rate. Compared with the 5-nanometer process, TSMC's 3-nanometer process technology has an approximately 60% increase in logic density, an 18% increase in speed at the same power consumption, or a 32% reduction in power consumption at the same speed.
TSMC said that over the years, TSMC and MediaTek have worked closely together to bring many major innovations to the market. They are very happy to continue to work together on 3nm and more advanced technologies. The cooperation between TSMC and MediaTek on the Dimensity flagship chip brings the semiconductor industry's top process technology into mobile terminals such as smartphones, allowing users around the world to enjoy an unparalleled experience.
Previously, due to the impact of the US ban on Huawei, MediaTek had applied to the US to continue supplying Huawei. However, according to MediaTek, it has not yet been approved to supply Huawei. This means that there is some uncertainty in the business cooperation between MediaTek and Huawei.
Regarding MediaTek’s latest progress, some insiders believe that this is an important measure for MediaTek to save itself. With Huawei, an important customer, being suppressed, MediaTek needs to find other market opportunities and improve its competitiveness. The launch of the 3nm flagship chip not only demonstrates MediaTek's strength in technological innovation, but also helps attract more mobile phone manufacturers to cooperate.
At the same time, some people believe that the relationship between MediaTek and Huawei is not a clean break. If U.S. policies are relaxed or changed, MediaTek may still resume supply to Huawei. Moreover, in other areas, such as the Internet of Things and smart homes, MediaTek and Huawei still have room for cooperation.