MediaTek is expecting to see a significant sales growth over the course of the second quarter of the year, with that prediction attributing the improvement to the Helio P60 chip, DigiTimes reported Thursday, citing sources close to the Taiwanese company. Originally announced at Barcelona-based Mobile World Congress early this month, the P60 was introduced as the world’s first mid-range silicon built on the 12nm FinFET process node that promises to achieve new performance and efficiency heights in the segment. MediaTek is now expecting major Chinese original equipment manufacturers including Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo to embrace the chip and implement it into a wide variety of their 2018 offerings, insiders claim.
The Helio P60 is one of the first non-premium mobile chips to allow for on-device artificial intelligence computing and could hence be an attractive proposition for phone makers looking for an edge in the extremely competitive mid-range bracket. Chinese OEMs will start receiving the first Helio P60 shipments in the coming weeks, whereas they’ll also be offered at least one more AI-focused silicon made by MediaTek in the second half of the year, as per the same report. The tech giant’s monthly turnover is estimated to surpass the equivalent of $684 million in March and continue rising over Q2. Being designed as a product for the upper mid-range market, the Helio P60 is likely to compete with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 700 series of chips whose existence has already been confirmed at this year’s MWC, though the San Diego-based firm has yet to announce any specific models.
Samsung unveiled what’s now believed to be the world’s most powerful mid-range chip earlier today but the Exynos 9610 is unlikely to directly rival the Helio P60 as it isn’t expected to be featured inside third-party Android smartphones. The Taiwanese company had a rough 2017 in terms of sales and has been re-examining its commitments to flagship chips, according to its previous statements. MediaTek was also recently rumored to be in merger talks with Broadcom which is still on the market for a flagship acquisition in the semiconductor industry after failing to take over Qualcomm but the chipmaker’s CFO dismissed those reports as “groundless” on Wednesday.