MediaTek Targets The Next Billion Smartphone Users

Smartphone processor manufacturer MediaTek has revealed how its plans to help people in developing markets get access to online services via its devices.

Speaking at the company’s Executive Forum event in London yesterday, MediaTek CFO David Ku said that the company was leading the way in helping attract the next wave of smartphone customers thanks to its extensive work in developing markets across the world.

Revealing a mantra of “enhance and enrich everyone’s life”, Ku outlined how the company currently enjoys a high profile in major markets such as India, China and Indonesia thanks to its extensive work with local manufacturers and operators, whom it supplies chips to power low-cost devices that can revolutionise areas such as healthcare and education.

High growth

MediaTek was also selected by Google to launch its Android One project, which saw cheap smartphones go on sale in India for as little as £65 without a contract. The programme is set to expand to the likes of Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka with more countries set to follow in 2015.

“By putting the technology in people’s hands, we can change their lives,” Ku stated.

The company had enjoyed an incredibly successful year so far, Ku (pictured left) said, recording revenues of US$5.3bn (€4.2bn) in the first half of the year, nearly as much as the whole of 2013.

It has managed this thanks to a wide range of partnerships across the globe, not just in smartphones but also in smart TVs, Blu-ray players, and satellite navigation systems to name but a few.

Noting that one out of every three mobile phones shipped this year had MediaTek inside, Ku revealed that over one billion consumer products across the globe were currently powered by the company’s chips, with the likes of Amazon, LG, Sony, Huawei and AT&T all currently partners.

New chip

MediaTek hopes this success will able to continue with the launch of its latest SoC (system on a chip), the MT6735, announced yesterday. The chip consists of four 64-bit ARM quad-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A53 processors alongside an ARM Mali-T720 GPU, LTE modem with Comprehensive RF support (B1 to B41) and dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity support.

The company says that by offering all these services on one chip, device manufacturers will be able to save significantly on R&D costs, meaning they will be able to get devices onto the market quicker than ever before. The MT6735 is sampling to early customers in Q4, 2014, with the first commercial devices featuring the chip expected to be available in Q2, 2015.

European expertise

MediaTek also announced it would be expanding its European presence with the opening of a new factory in Oulu, Finland, its fourth on the continent and 12^th worldwide.

The new facility, which will focus on focuses on developing advanced wireless connectivity modems for future smart devices, actually makes MediaTek the largest processing firm in Scandinavia.

“Finland has long been recognized as the home of many experienced engineers well-versed in cellular technologies,” said JS Pan, Deputy General Manager of MediaTek’s Wireless Communications Technology business unit.

“By opening our new office in Oulu, we hope to be an attractive employer to some of most seasoned engineers and the brightest graduating engineers from local universities”

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