Mobile phones are migrating to smaller chips to accelerate AI workloads: MediaTek

Mobile phones are increasingly migrating to smaller chips that are more energy efficient and powerful supported by specialised Neural Processing Units (NPUs) to accelerate AI workloads directly on devices, said Anku Jain, India Managing Director for MediaTek, a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor firm that claims a 47% market share India’s smartphone chipset market.

Mr. Jain told The Hindu that, “Smartphones are also increasingly replacing laptops and becoming the primary computing device in India and this trend is quite evident across tier-2 and tier-3 cities as smartphones are often the only internet-enabled devices here boosting digital inclusion, enabling connectivity, offering entertainment, supporting entrepreneurship and driving huge amount of content creation.’’

He further said, there was growing demand for high-performance phones driven by gaming, video editing, AI-powered content creation, and professional photography, in the country. Also, Flagship phone (high end phones) adoption has been rising even in small towns, as consumers want to retain phones for 3 plus years based on utility, not as fashion.

Commenting on MediaTek’s smartphone chipset market share in the country, Mr. Jain claimed the company enjoyed a lead position in the last over 20 quarters while globally, MediaTek holds 35–40% market share and shipping nearly 2 billion devices annually.

On market outlook he said, MediaTek saw smartphones as the most critical personal device of the future, especially in India’s mass market. With AI-enabled flagship devices, strong automotive momentum, and emerging cloud opportunities, the company expects sustained growth across consumer and enterprise segments, Mr. Jain commented.

The premium smartphone segment (₹50,000+) is expanding rapidly, driven by real-world use cases rather than lifestyle branding.

Beyond smartphones, MediaTek leads globally in Smart TVs, and has a strong presence in speakers, Chromebooks, and connectivity solutions. Automotive is a major growth area, driven by EVs and increasing semiconductor intensity. MediaTek infotainment solutions are used by Skoda and Tata Motors in India. The company is also working with two-wheeler manufacturers.

On talent Mr. Jain said, MediaTek’s R&D centres in Bengaluru, Noida and Mumbai, employed 1,000 techies and hinted the company would look for more hardware and software engineers with electronics and computer science backgrounds in the future. “India is viewed as a strategic talent hub by our global headquarters,’’ he stated.

MediaTek recently showcased its latest Dimensity 9500 SoC to the media in Bengaluru, reinforcing the company’s leadership in high-performance mobile computing. Dimensity 9500 is a 3rd generation All Big Core CPU design, combining a 4.21GHz ultra core, industry’s first support for 4-channel UFS4.1, MediaTek Imagiq 1190, three premium cores, Arm G1-Ultra GPU and four performance cores.

MediaTek also spotlighted some of the latest collaborations across its Dimensity portfolio, including flagship 5G smartphones from the OPPO Find X9 series and the vivo X300 series and high-performance smartphones in the premium Dimensity 8000 series.

“We are continuously expanding our RD capabilities in India, bringing innovative advancements to make everyday life easier. India is an important market to our long-term vision,’’ Mr. Jain further said.