In the era of 4G to 5G, a manufacturer can be said to have made a fortune silently, and quietly became the largest player in the market from a non-central role in the market.

This is MediaTek (MTK).

At the end of 2020, market research agency Counterpoint released data showing that in the third quarter of 2020, more than 100 million mobile phones were using MediaTek processors, an increase of about 5% year-on-year. MediaTek mentioned in the financial report that the company has a strong performance in the mobile phone market in the range of US$100 to US$250 and has continued to grow in markets such as India, China and Latin America. In the end, they achieved 31% of the overall market share, surpassing Qualcomm's 29%, ranking first in the market share of mobile phone chips. At the same time, in terms of business performance, MediaTek also achieved a high growth rate of nearly 40%.

It can be said that MediaTek’s Dimensity 800 series and 700 series are extremely cost-effective in the low-end 5G mobile phone market by virtue of their high-cost performance, while Dimensity 1000 series also performs well in the sub-flagship market.

Although in terms of winning attention, flagship phones and flagship chips are definitely the most attractive, but if it is true to say about shipments, it is often that mid-end chips are more in line with the needs of the public, especially 5G and thousand-yuan phones. When combined. At this time, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 765 chip is hard to beat with four hands. MediaTek is relying on this wave of trends to firmly occupy the first position in the market.

This is, relying on mainstream products in the mainstream price segment, occupying the mainstream market position.

When MediaTek released the new Dimensity 1200 chip yesterday, Xu Jingquan, Deputy General Manager of MediaTek and General Manager of the Wireless Communications Division, said in an interview with the media:

Of course, our initial results, to be honest, were not very top-notch. But so many years of experience accumulation and technological improvement have actually allowed us to continue to climb up our pursuit in the market.

In the mass market, we also let the MediaTek brand, especially the Dimensity brand in the 5G era, be accepted by everyone, even better recognized. I think that to achieve such market results, the first is that we have received positive feedback from the market for our efforts over the past few years. We think this is an important thing because the market’s leading shipment volume represents the impact on the entire market. Power is a big indicator meaning. Whether our suppliers or downstream customers, we all hope to do more cooperation with us, so this is a very important indicator, an important milestone, which is of great significance to us, and I cherish it very much. result.

Speaking of the growth from 2019 to 2020, now I see a figure of more than 30% growth. I think a large part is the substantial growth of MediaTek smart phone chips. The main reason is the rapid transition of the market from 4G to 5G, especially in several advanced regions, including mainland China, North America, and Europe. The rapid deployment of 5G in these regions allows us to quickly deploy 4G to 5G dividends. Of course, we are also well prepared. Years of preparation can give us a head start in the commercialization of the first wave.

In addition to the growth of mobile phones, there is a large part of the impact of the market environment.

As you all know, the entire market in 2020 will be affected by the new crown epidemic, which will bring new business opportunities for remote work from home. Therefore, MediaTek will not only benefit from 4G to 5G dividends, but also remote work bonuses. MediaTek has made a significant leap in its growth in 2020.

In this race for the first place, MediaTek's performance is very inspirational. However, in addition to the keyword "mainstream", there is actually another keyword "non-mainstream".

Compared with the 5nm process technology that everyone is using, Dimensity 1200 uses a 6nm process; at the same time, on the Android mobile chip side, Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and Samsung Exynos 2100 both use a super large core X1 plus three cores A78 in addition to the structure of four small cores, MediaTek's Dimensity 1200 super core is still A78, so from the technical route, MediaTek is still a bit "non-mainstream".

In this regard, Li Junnan, the technical planning director of MediaTek’s wireless communications division, explained:

In the pursuit of advanced technology, I think MediaTek will not be left behind. 5nm chips and plans are underway. As for the Dimensity 1200 planning, we think there will be more stable and better performance on TSMC’s advanced 6nm. Combined with the latest ARM CPU architecture optimization, we currently see that the best balance between performance and energy efficiency can be achieved.

I have also noticed that there have been many issues on the Internet about the "rollover" of (X1 super core). I also explained to the media teacher that our Dimensity 1200 is definitely an upward improvement over the previous generation, which can be guaranteed, and the performance is improved. Compared with the current flagship chip, the energy efficiency must be in the top few ranks.

The challenge in high-end chip design is actually energy efficiency, and the highest challenge is energy efficiency. Recently, everyone has noticed the problem of "car overturning". If the performance is too high, the entire heat generation problem cannot be controlled. We have taken this into consideration when designing the Dimensity 1200. When we design, we will look for the best sweet spot for the process and IP characteristics.

The pursuit of advanced manufacturing processes is certainly valuable, but the risks and costs that need to be borne must also be considered. Therefore, the mediocre performance of this batch of 5nm chips is actually good for MediaTek, although it is not the program that MediaTek or the biggest winner, but many people should be more conservative when choosing a high-end machine.