MediaTek took the stage at CES 2018 to announce, among other things, a new entry in its lineup of specialized system-on-chip products for the home automation and IoT connectivity market. This new chip is the MT7622, and it is the first of its kind in the world to feature 4×4 MIMO on 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 on a chip with a dedicated Wi-Fi accelerator. To make things more user friendly, the chip includes Smart Quality of Service to automatically manage network resource allocation among devices on the network according to their declared properties and demonstrated needs, along with smart roaming, dynamic band steering, and easy device setup via Bluetooth. According to MediaTek’s press release, major brands like ASUS and D-Link have already signed on to use the MT7622 in their efforts to develop consumer-facing gigabit Wi-Fi networking.
The MT7622 joins MediaTek’s previous MT7615 and MT7621 chipsets for Wi-Fi router and device use. The newest chip in the series is specifically made with the connectivity needs of a smart home in mind, with a focus on maintaining high speed, reliability, and connection quality all throughout a home and across a large number of devices. The versatile nature of these three chipsets allows them to be used in routers, smart home objects, connectivity and control hubs, and all manner of other devices for the home and business markets that require far-reaching and fast Wi-Fi connectivity.
MediaTek states in its press release that its solutions currently power around 50% of all smart devices in the home automation segment at this time, with the company leading the market in networking devices, connected home, and other related categories. MediaTek’s chipsets power many popular consumer-facing and business-facing high-end router solutions. The company’s networking business is picking up just as its smartphone chipset business is slowing down, with the flagship Helio X range having recently been seemingly retired soon after the release of the Helio X25. MediaTek had essentially been boxed out of the high-end smartphone chipset market by Qualcomm, who is also a major competitor in the connectivity market. For the time being, MediaTek seems to have a healthy lead over Qualcomm in a number of connectivity segments.