MediaTek set to launch its Dimensity 9400 chipset in Q4

The news was broken by MediaTek chairman Tsai Ming-kai at an opening ceremony for a new office building in Taiwan. He confirmed the planned launch date for the new chip – the follow-up to the Dimensity 9300, which was first unveiled in November 2022.

Clearly, Hsinchu-based Mediatek – the fifth-largest IC designer in the world as of 3Q 2023 – has high hopes for the product. Since ChatGPT burst on to the scene in 2022, there's been much discussion about how phone makers will embed the tech into their handsets. In a homogenised market, they are looking for new features that can make consumers hungry to upgrade their devices.

MediaTek is in a strong position to compete. Last week, it reported its best profit figures in five quarters. Net profit in the quarter to December jumped 38.9% sequentially and 38.8% year on year to USD 819.8 million. Against that, annual net profit slid 34.8% to USD 118.14 billion in 2022. The company says it expects a smartphone chip revenue to show double-digit percentage growth in 2024.

“We also observe that generative artificial intelligence [AI] is driving smartphone upgrades and creating a bigger market for flagship and high-end smartphones,” said MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai. “The continuous 5G migration and market share expansion of our flagship chips will be key drivers for our mobile phone business this year.”