Nvidia is investing $3.5 billion in MediaTek.
MediaTek will use Nvidia's tech to design custom chips.
This helps Nvidia stay central in AI data centers.
What happened
Nvidia is investing $3.5 billion into Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek. As part of the deal, MediaTek will adopt Nvidia's technology to design custom chips for AI companies and hyperscalers that can be plugged into Nvidia-based data centers.
Why it matters
This move comes as AI companies and major cloud providers like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic invest in their own chips to be less reliant on Nvidia's GPUs. The partnership lets Nvidia cede ground to custom silicon while keeping its lead as the dominant data center scaffolding, and gives MediaTek access to Nvidia's NVLink Fusion ecosystem.
What to watch
MediaTek expects its custom data center ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) business to generate $2 billion in revenue in 2026. The companies will also continue collaborating on DGX Spark and extend to RTX Spark for AI PCs, plus work on AI-powered, software-defined vehicles.
Ask the AI about this article →
Nvidia's investment in MediaTek marks a strategic shift from being just a GPU maker to an AI infrastructure company. As big cloud providers and AI labs develop their own chips, Nvidia is accommodating custom silicon by ensuring it still provides the data center scaffolding and interconnect technology. This keeps Nvidia central to AI computing even when its own GPUs aren't used.
MediaTek's strength in custom chip design for smartphones, smart homes, and cars positions it well for data center ASICs. With Nvidia's support, MediaTek can offer its customers a standardized rack-scale platform, potentially expanding its custom chip business. The expected $2 billion revenue in 2026 from this segment shows significant growth potential.
The collaboration extends beyond data centers to consumer AI PCs and vehicles, including the DGX Spark and RTX Spark, and AI-powered vehicles using Nvidia Drive AGX. This broad partnership could expand Nvidia's accelerated computing into new markets, as CEO Jensen Huang noted, giving customers the freedom to create differentiated AI systems at scale.
For example, today's edition would include:
AI-summarized, only the topics you pick — one digest a day via Email, Slack, or Discord.
Free · takes 30 seconds · unsubscribe anytimeWhat is AIToday? →
Ask AI anything about this article. Q&As are published on this page for other readers too.
AI system scaling has pushed interconnect requirements inside data centers from chips and boards up to racks…
Chinese large-model developer Z.ai says it can now support large-scale inference using roughly 100,000 domesti…
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Nvidia has revived the Rubin CPX AI accelerator with a substantially redesigned arch…
Palantir Technologies stock has posted multi-year gains, including an 11x return over 3 years
Apple has escalated its legal battle against OpenAI, claiming in a new court filing that OpenAI is actively de…
Samsung Electronics has locked up as much as 70% of its memory production capacity under long-term supply agre…
