MediaTek, a Taiwanese chip designer, will tape out its 2-nanometer chip at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in September 2025.

The announcement was made by MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai at the Computex forum in Taipei.

This move highlights MediaTek’s close partnership with TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker.

The semiconductor industry is shifting toward smaller, more efficient chip technologies.

MediaTek aims to stay competitive by advancing its chip technology with TSMC’s support.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ MediaTek’s strategic evolution from budget champion to premium competitor

MediaTek’s planned 2nm chip represents the culmination of a remarkable transformation for a company that started with much humbler technology.

In 2012, MediaTek was manufacturing the MT6589 using 28nm technology, focused primarily on low-cost smartphones for emerging markets rather than premium devices 1.

The company has executed a deliberate upmarket strategy, growing from shipping just 10 million smartphone chips in 2011 to an estimated 300 million in 2014, capturing 15% of the cellular radio market during that period 2.

This progression reflects MediaTek’s pivot after 2011 when their earnings declined by a third due to the rapid rise of smartphones, forcing them to evolve from serving “white label” phone makers to supplying established brands like Lenovo and Sony 3.

Their entrance into the premium U.S. smartphone market came in 2016 with the launch of the LG X power using the MediaTek helio P10 chipset, showing how the company has methodically climbed the value chain over the past decade 4.

The upcoming 2nm chip development positions MediaTek to compete directly with industry leader Qualcomm in the highest-performance segment, completing their transformation from budget specialist to full-spectrum competitor.

2️⃣ The 2nm breakthrough promises significant performance and efficiency gains

The race to 2nm technology represents one of the most significant advances in semiconductor manufacturing, with MediaTek joining an elite group of companies pushing these boundaries.