- MediaTek is exploring sourcing more chips from India as the local semiconductor ecosystem grows
- The company has a significant presence in India with over 1,000 engineers
- MediaTek is expanding into premium smartphone segments, 5G, and the automotive sector
MediaTek, a Taiwanese Company which ranks among the top global fabless semiconductor companies, is considering increasing its chip procurement from India as the country's semiconductor ecosystem continues to progress.
Anku Jain, Managing Director of MediaTek India stated, “If local consumption and manufacturing of chips grow, and the ecosystem becomes robust enough to support cost-effective production, it would make strong business sense to shift more assembly or manufacturing to India. It depends on the maturity of (foundry) partners if and when they evolve in India”.
The Taiwanese company now accounts for 45-47% of the market for smartphone chipsets in India. MediaTek, as a fabless firm, has foundry partners who carry out the chip production.
“It is exciting to see that multiple companies are making chips. If they are able to fulfil the requirements, we will be very excited to use it”, Jain added.
India's semiconductor industry has been using the 28nm and other simpler nodes for its initial production, which is a plus point of making it easier to manufacture chips on those nodes rather than on the very high tech ones like 6nm or 4nm.
A dynamic ecosystem for the fabless companies is being created through these initiatives as per MediaTek's director for India who underlined the critical factors of government support, skilled workforce and infrastructure that would otherwise China would not be able to take away from India.
Jain noted, “Around 90 per cent of our talent here is for global R&D, as they work closely with our global design centres on both hardware and software aspects of system-on-chip development, contributing to computing, connectivity and AI feature integration across the life cycle of chips”.
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MediaTek has a considerable R&D staff in India, which includes more than 1,000 engineers all dedicated to the development of new technologies in different fields like consumer electronics, automotive platforms, and IoT. The presence of the company in India is a significant factor in extending its global reach, mainly in the area of smartphone chipsets.
“The proportion of products designed here, built here, and sold both in India and globally is only going to increase. Looking ahead, we’re expanding into new verticals, including automotive, data centres, and ASICs, and we expect these collaborations and innovations to be major growth drivers in the coming years”, Jain said.
MediaTek is planning to raise local production and exports, so the company is applying to the government for the additional 20-25% value addition that is currently being done. It is also targeting the premium segment of the market through the Dimensity 8450 and 9500 platforms, which feature cutting-edge AI capabilities and are also very power-efficient.
“Backed by $4.1 billion in global R&D with significant investments in our India centres, we're co-developing tailored solutions for edge-to-cloud computing, 5G RedCap, and beyond, creating jobs and innovation hubs. This isn't just about volume, it's about fostering self-reliance”, Jain stated.
He added, “As 5G moves into the mainstream, our broad Dimensity portfolio is enabling OEMs to deliver affordable, high-performance 5G smartphones across mid-tier and entry-level segments”.
MediaTek is focusing on smartphone development but it has also become a major player in the 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) market and has made a foray into the automotive and electric vehicle (EV) sectors. The company is putting a lot of money into IoT and automotive solutions and has ambitious plans to be at the forefront of India’s semiconductor ecosystem by the year 2030.