Taiwan’s Qualcomm and Samsung rival MediaTek takes aim at US market with new 5G chip
- MediaTek, a supplier of chips for Xiaomi, is among the few global companies with 5G chip offerings
- Previously, MediaTek’s 5G chips only supported a variant of 5G networks used in countries such as China but not the US
Taiwanese chip designer MediaTek Inc on Monday released a new 5G chip aimed at helping it gain market share in the United States.
Along with Qualcomm Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, MediaTek is one of the few suppliers of modem chips that help devices such as smartphones connect to cellular data networks. The company supplies chips to phone makers such as Xiaomi Corp and LG Electronics Inc, among others.
China made more chips in 2020, but also imported more
MediaTek’s modem chip announced on Monday, called the M80, will also support what is called millimetre-wave technology, which is being used by US carriers such as Verizon Communications Inc.
Verizon uses the name “5G Ultra Wideband” for the service. Qualcomm is currently the dominant supplier of chips to take advantage of the millimetre-wave technology, with its chips used in the US versions of Apple Inc’s iPhone 12.
Finbarr Moynihan, general manager of international corporate sales, told Reuters in an interview that MediaTek hopes to win more contracts to supply chips for US models.
“It’s a very different market, in terms of the operator landscape and the technology requirements, but we’ve been very pleased to some solid progress in our volume and market share” with handset makers such as Samsung and LG, he said.
