Qualcomm has become the dominant player in the field of chips mainly because it has mastered most patents of 3G and 4G networks, so that many Android handset manufacturers have to adopt Qualcomm chips.
With the advent of the 5G era, life in Qualcomm seems to be getting harder and harder, and chip manufacturers in China begin to shine, such as Kirin chip of Huawei and Tianji chip of MediaTek. In terms of 5G dual-mode chips, Huawei ranks first, followed by Samsung and MediaTek, and Qualcomm ranks last.
For a long time in the past, MediaTek chips were closely associated with the word "shanzhai".
According to data, MediaTek was founded in 1997. In 2003, when shanzhai mobile phones were popular in the domestic market, MediaTek launched a "turnkey" scheme for the mobile phone market, and mobile phone manufacturers only needed to add different components and housings.
Once this "turnkey" scheme was introduced, it quickly became the first choice of cottage machines, and with the hot sale of cottage machines, "MTK" was also popular all over the country.
In the era of intelligence, although MediaTek has introduced many smart phone chips, it has only achieved some success in the low-end market. Because of the great success of Qualcomm chip, MediaTek was on the verge of losing money and began to fade out of people's sight.
However, after entering the 5G era, MediaTek gradually emerged in the 5G chip market, surpassing its big brother Qualcomm in technology and market share.
In 2020, after Huawei suffered a chip outage, the global smartphone chip market also underwent a major reshuffle. In terms of market share, MediaTek officially surpassed Qualcomm with a market share of 27%! Although it is only 2 points more than Qualcomm, it is a milestone for the development of chip industry in MediaTek and China.
In the first quarter of this year, MediaTek continued to widen the gap with Qualcomm. According to statistics, in the first quarter of this year, MediaTek's market share reached 35%, ranking first in the global smart phone chip market again.
Recently, it was reported that MediaTek's revenue reached a new high in May, with its monthly income exceeding NT$ 4 13 billion (about RMB 9.5 billion). The market share has surpassed Qualcomm to become the world's largest mobile phone chip manufacturer for three consecutive quarters, which makes Qualcomm very unhappy.
First, increase investment in R&D. Data show that MediaTek's R&D expenditure will increase from NT$ 26.454 billion in 20 13 to NT$ 77 billion in 2020.
High investment has brought high returns to MediaTek, especially in the aspect of 5G chips, which is far ahead of Qualcomm. Whether positioning the high-end series 1200, 1 100 or positioning the low-end series 800, the performance and power consumption of each model are outstanding.
The key point is that the performance of MediaTek Tianji chip at the same level is even better than that of Qualcomm Snapdragon chip at the same level, and the price is lower.
The Tianqi series launched this time covers 5G chipsets with different positioning from entry level to flagship level. Help MediaTek to better lay out the 5G chip market and seize a large market share.
Followed by the support of domestic mobile phone manufacturers. MediaTek's chips have attracted the support of mobile phone manufacturers for their cost performance and 5G.
No matter Xiaomi, OPPO or other domestic mobile phone manufacturers, they have basically launched a variety of mobile phones equipped with Tianzhu chips, and their share is increasing. And in the high-end market, MediaTek has won the chip orders of Xiaomi, OPPO, VIVO and Glory.
Finally, it is America's fault. Another important reason why MediaTek chips are widely used by domestic mobile phone manufacturers is that the American hand is too long.
After US sanctions against Huawei, domestic mobile phone manufacturers dare not rely solely on Qualcomm chips, but adopt diversified purchasing strategies, especially in the low-end market, and prefer to purchase MediaTek Tianji 5G series chips.
In April, it was reported that MediaTek was rushing to the high-end technology, and its new generation of 5G flagship chip was upgraded from 5nm to 4nm. At the same time, it is still developing the task of 3 nm process, and it will become TSMC's first customer of 4 nm and 3 nm. Its mass production progress is expected to be comparable to that of Apple, and it has won orders from big manufacturers such as OPPO, VIVO and Xiaomi.
MediaTek is not only making efforts in the low-end market, but also attacking the high-end market. Coupled with the support of domestic manufacturers, it will further seize the market share of Qualcomm.