MediaTek has repeatedly outperformed most peers in the development of mobile chip solutions, but its long conservative practice of offering higher-end solutions for lower-end application segments to win greater customer patronages has prevented the company from gaining ground in the high-end smartphone chip market, according to industry observers.

Over the years, MediaTek has cooperated with terminal market customers to develop a wide variety of chips such as optical storage chips, DVD player chips, TV chips, feature phone chips and smartphone chips, all bearing high performance/price ratios. This has become the best weapon for the company to create a win-win status with clients, observers said.

Such a practice of offering products with high performance-price ratios or supplying higher-end solutions for lower-end application segments can usually work well to help a latecomer boost its market shares. But when the latecomer starts to lead in technologies, specs and product offerings, the practice may, on the contrary, hamper it from gaining a presence in high-end markets.

This can explain why MediaTek was forced to temporarily halt the launch of its Helio X series application processors for high-end smartphones, the observers indicated.

But MediaTek's R&D is fast proceeding with deployments in AI technology innovations, which is expected to help the company break free from its conservative attitude, the observers commented, reasoning that AI technologies are increasingly applied to the integration of all terminal devices and cloud services, and the seamless upgrades in software and hardware will make AI innovations and applications not confined to any single product, service or market.

In efforts to apply its leading AI chip technologies to 4C (computer, communication, consumer electronics and car) products, MediaTek has moved to contact web giants including Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Tencent and Alibaba for business cooperation, as well as leading consumer brand vendors Samsung, Apple and Xiaomi to explore business cooperation possibilities. This may give MediaTek a chance to perform better in the high-performance AI chip sector, the observers said.