When it comes to smartphones, a good number of people are only aware of the mobile operating system that it runs, while a slightly lesser number are also aware of the manufacturer who’s phone they’re using. When it comes to processors though, if you asked any average person on the street what type of chip their phone is powered by, you’d most likely get a response that was confused, as people tend to only recognize big name brands, and typically for most consumers, processor manufacturers don’t fall into that category. For those of us that are a little more interested in all things tech, we know the major players when it comes to chips and mobile processors. Qualcomm is undoubtedly the world leader here, but a handful of other companies are on the rise with their own processors, including MediaTek the largest chip provider in China, who’s actually staking claim in Qualcomms Home Town of San Diego.
While part of it’s strategic plan to gain some ground outside of China is location of their new office, MediaTek’s Vice President of U.S. Corporate marketing also stated that they plan to hire 150 new engineers along with new marketing and business development staff over the course of the year. Location wise, MediaTek has “many technology partners in the area that they want to be able to better serve,” and they feel that there is no better place to accomplish such a task. MediaTek already supplies the most chips inside China, and their ability to produce low cost chips to companies like LG and Xiamoi has helped those two smartphone manufacturers come out with extremely low cost handsets. It’s no wonder that MediaTek has grown so large, but even as big as they are they have a lot of room to grow outside their home market.
Among hiring new employees and finding a new strategic location from which to operate, MediaTek also hopes to convey a message that they can provide a global product, by rebranding itself as a company that is capable of producing chips on a larger global scale, and serving more than just mostly the Chinese market. MediTek’s stock market value surpasses that of other companies that compete with Qualcomm here in the U.S. like Broadcom, and Nvidia, but it still only has a small percentage of the mobile chip market here. Just under 3%. Once the Chinese company begins producing here within the U.S., it’ll be interesting to see how well they do and if that percentage grows.