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DIGITIMES Asia Tech Forum 2025: Qualcomm and MediaTek take smartphone rivalry to the cloud in AI chips
With global smartphone sales leveling off, Qualcomm and MediaTek are taking their long-running rivalry into the fast-growing cloud AI ASIC market. DIGITIMES Research estimates MediaTek controlled 37% of the smartphone application processor market in 2024, ahead of Qualcomm at 27%. Together, the two suppliers accounted for more than 60% of shipments. With handset growth expected to remain stuck in the low single digits, both companies are turning to cloud computing chips as a new source of expans
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[{"type":"text","content":"NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- With global smartphone sales leveling off, Qualcomm and MediaTek are taking their long-running rivalry into the fast-growing cloud AI ASIC market. DIGITIMES Research estimates MediaTek controlled 37% of the smartphone application processor market in 2024, ahead of Qualcomm at 27%. Together, the two suppliers accounted for more than 60% of shipments. With handset growth expected to remain stuck in the low single digits, both companies are turning to cloud computing chips as a new source of expansion.","length":550,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"image","alt":"Credit: DIGITIMES","displaySize":"","headline":null,"caption":"Credit: DIGITIMES","className":"","disableSlideshowImg":false,"size":{"original":{"width":400,"height":267,"url":"https://media.zenfs.com/en/prnewswire.com/632ad18d5720d04a0ffdf4676207433b"},"resized":{"url":"https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Ys3u51hgskNOvsBuJ_DjfA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTQ3MTtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/prnewswire.com/632ad18d5720d04a0ffdf4676207433b","width":400,"height":267}},"href":"https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2779385/Smartphone_rivalry_to_the_cloud_in_AI_chips_1.html","hrefExternal":true,"rel":"nofollow"},{"type":"text","content":"Cloud strategies unveiled at COMPUTEX","length":37,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Qualcomm and MediaTek outlined new strategies for cloud AI chips and confirmed plans to join Nvidia's NVLink Fusion consortium, signaling their intent to take on incumbents in high-performance computing. The moves, announced at COMPUTEX 2025, underscore how chipmakers are racing to secure an edge in AI infrastructure, where expertise in HPC SoC design, SerDes interconnects, and advanced manufacturing nodes is critical to compete.","length":442,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"MediaTek focuses on speed and partnerships","length":42,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"DIGITIMES Research analyst Joyce Chen said MediaTek's competitive edge lies in speed. The company has relied on Arm reference designs and TSMC's advanced nodes, building up mass-production know-how in smartphones and Chromebooks. It has also joined Nvidia's DGX Spark GB10 project and partnered with Google on TPU development, accelerating its push into cloud AI ASICs. MediaTek has demonstrated 224G SerDes technology, ...