MediaTek – Powerhouse of Innovations for Future-Ready Era

Leading from the front – over the past many years, MediaTek has delivered a lot of innovative offerings for the consumers - from the MediaTek CorePilot innovation, which optimizes the chip in the best possible manner, to the MediaTek HyperEngine Gaming Technology – the company has always been on the forefront of enabling meaningful innovation for its customers.

Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India speaks with Zia Askari from TelecomDrive.com about the company’s strategy for India and how it is driving innovation across various market segments.

MediaTek has been in the Indian market for many years now. What is the secret of your success and what has been the big learning for you as a brand?

India has been one of the major markets for us, both in terms of business and consumer opportunities. One of the secrets of our success here has been the fact that we treat India as a unique and robust market, with indigenous requirements and demands. Our offerings take into account the specialized needs of our consumers here, and we consistently strive to offer them innovative and upgraded products and services. Understanding the unique requirements of discerning Indian consumers has been a big learning for us.

We believe that our focus on customer requirements, emerging from our strong Indian R&D talent pool, has enabled us to remain relevant in India over the past years. For MediaTek, India is a strong partner for our global R&D teams, and we have world-class R&D facilities in Noida and Bangalore. Another reason for our success in the country is the technology-driven jobs and talent we have curated in India. Our strong customer relationships, as well as our dedication to the ecosystem partners has also helped us cement our position in India.

We are living in a unique life situation which has no equal in the past history and hence every business, partners are getting touched by this new normal. Keeping this in mind, what are the key priorities for MediaTek today?

The Covid-19 situation has, indeed, led to major changes in human and business behavior. People are increasingly reliant on online tools and solutions for their daily requirements and we believe that this new normal offers us a great opportunity as our solutions have been empowering consumers during this phase. MediaTek is focused on making great technology available to everyone and we have been powering important connectivity and entertainment solutions including smartphones, smart home devices, IoT, entertainment, gaming, set-top boxes, and Wi-Fi routers.

Going ahead, we expect people to rely more and more on digital solutions, and our products are well aligned in this direction. Our innovative offerings are ensuring productivity and continuity, across domains, as individuals balance work and daily routine, in this new normal. As a global leader in chipset technologies, our business sees a great opportunity and hope in this situation and beyond. Our key priorities include core verticals like smartphones, gaming, smart homes, entertainment solutions, as well as future-ready technology like 5G and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, as these are technologies that are enabling individuals to remain connected, engaged, and productive more than ever before.

How are you as a brand - helping your employees, your partner's and the overall ecosystem in this difficult pandemic situation?

At MediaTek, we have always had a humans-first philosophy. We are of the strong opinion that employees are the driving force behind every organization, and, at MediaTek, our foremost priority has been to ensure the safety and well-being of our co-workers. We believe that business growth and continuity are dependent on the welfare of employees and we have designed a daily health survey to monitor and assist our employees. Throughout this difficult time, we have kept the safety and security of employees and their families in mind, and our work from home policies are aligned with our beliefs.

From a consumer point of view, our technology is built keeping humans in mind and we aim to enhance and enrich the everyday life of consumers. We have been ramping up our offerings, across segments, because we aim to cater to all segments of the population. Our solutions are not only about connecting people to their devices but also connecting users’ devices to things that matter – enabling connectivity to the things that shape lives, make consumers smarter, healthier, and improve everyday life.

As a brand, we have been engaging with our partners and the overall ecosystem through digital mediums and communication platforms. We have also been aiding our partners by being a part of their digital launch plans and offering our support and expertise. During this difficult pandemic situation, MediaTek has been trying to help the entire ecosystem in all possible measures.

How do you look at the upcoming devices - including smartphones and IoT devices? Where all can we look for a MediaTek in the coming months?

MediaTek is the fourth-largest, global fabless semiconductor company and we power 1.5 billion connected devices every year, including mobile phones, home entertainment, connectivity, IoT products, Smart TVs, Voice Assistant Devices (VADs), Android tablets, Set-top boxes as well as optical and Blu-ray DVD player. We have been focusing on technologies that enable consumers to face the new normal in an optimal way. In the upcoming months, MediaTek will be seen powering a variety of devices, including 5G-enabled smartphones, gaming-focused smartphones, smart TVs featuring Wi-Fi 6 and 8K resolution, and AI and rich IoT-enabled smart home devices like washing machines, smart speakers, etc.

As we move ahead, chips are getting multiple cores and are getting increasingly AI enabled. Moving forward what more can we expect to be packed in this power-space?

At present, the semiconductor industry has reached the stage of octa-core processors enabling smart devices. Multiple cores in a processor enables the system to handle more than one thread, simultaneously. Each core is capable of handling a distinctive stream of data, greatly enhancing the performance of a system running concurrent applications. Going ahead, we expect processor speeds and performance to keep improving.

At MediaTek, when we talk about cores, our strength lies in our technology – from the MediaTek CorePilot innovation, which enables us to optimize the chip in the best possible manner, ensuring lower power consumption and faster speeds, to the MediaTek HyperEngine Gaming Technology, which makes the smartphone a powerhouse for seamless gameplay. Looking at our flagship MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ 5G SoC, the chip features a hexa-core AI processor for leading performance and power efficiency. The MediaTek APU 3.0 houses six AI processors and offers up to 4.5 TOPS performance, comprehensively meeting the needs of the latest AI-camera, AI-assistant, in-app or OS-enhancements that make up modern smartphone experiences.

We have always been at the leading edge of the technology curve when it comes to multi cores and AI functions and most of our chips offer both the features. Going ahead, we are investing in R&D to maintain our position at the forefront of technology and consumers can expect a tech evolution, including enhanced speed, performance, efficiency, MediaTek HyperEngine specifications, and AI.

How does MediaTek look at strengthening its India design hub for its future generation of products? What is the progress happening there? Any investments that you are likely to make there?

India is a strong R&D partner for MediaTek, globally, and we expect further growth and expansion in the India design hub. Our team in India is collaborating with the global teams on world-class designs and solutions and we foresee more investments being made in the future. India is strong on talent, with a huge number of qualified youth eager to contribute to the economic development of the country. We are working towards growing the Indian talent pool and enhancing the R&D team which works on aspects of both software and hardware design.

How does MediaTek look at the 5G space today? Where do you stand vis a vis the completion today and what's your 5G roadmap?

At MediaTek, we have been a frontrunner in the 5G domain, having unveiled our 5G modem in 2019. We have also had the distinction of being the first chipset company, globally, to launch an integrated 5G SoC.

In 2020, we have consistently unveiled newer and more advanced chips under our MediaTek Dimensity 5G family of chips and our offerings cater to the flagship as well as the mid-tier categories, ensuring that the revolutionary 5G technology is accessible to a wide demographic. MediaTek is, indeed, a leader in 5G technology and we plan to continue designing and launching newer chips as we wait for the technology to reach Indian shores.