computer science

MediaTek

MediaTek is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand MediaTek rather than just read about it. In short: MediaTek Inc. (Chinese: 聯發科技股份有限公司; pinyin: Liánfā Kējì Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī), sometimes informally abbreviated as MTK, is a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company that designs and markets a range of semiconductor products, providing chips for wireless communications, high-definition television, handheld mobile devices like smartphones and tablet computers, navigation systems, consumer multimedia products and digit…

Key takeaways

MediaTek belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect MediaTek to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of MediaTek from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

MediaTek Inc. (Chinese: 聯發科技股份有限公司; pinyin: Liánfā Kējì Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī), sometimes informally abbreviated as MTK, is a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company that designs and markets a range of semiconductor products, providing chips for wireless communications, high-definition television, handheld mobile devices like smartphones and tablet computers, navigation systems, consumer multimedia products and digital subscriber line services as well as optical disc drives. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Hsinchu, the company has 41 offices worldwide and was the third largest fabless chip designer worldwide in 2016. The company also provides its customers with reference designs. MediaTek became the biggest smartphone chipset vendor with 31% market share in Q3 2020. This was assisted by its strong performance in regions such as China and India.

History MediaTek was originally a unit of the Taiwanese firm, United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), tasked with designing chipsets for home entertainment products. On May 28, 1997, the unit was spun off and incorporated. MediaTek Inc. was listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSEC) under the "2454" code on July 23, 2001. The company started out designing chipsets for optical drives and subsequently expanded into chips for DVD players, digital TVs, mobile phones, smartphones and tablets. In general MediaTek has had a strong record of gaining market share and displacing competitors after entering new markets. The company launched a division to design products for mobile devices in 2004 and developed chips such as the MT6225, MT6252, MT6235, and other chips in the MT62xx series, used in mobile phones. Seven years later, it took orders for more than 500 million mobile system-on-chip units per annum, including products for feature phones and smart devices. By providing extensive system engineering assistance, the company allowed many smaller companies and new entrants to enter a mobile phone market that had previously been dominated by large, often vertically integrated corporations that had long been broadly entrenched in the telecommunications industry. The mobile chip market quickly became the main growth driver for the company. At Mobile World Congress 2014, MediaTek unveiled its new brand "Everyday Genius", dubbing the term "Super-mid market", with the vision and aiming to make smartphones more accessible affordable to the wider market. As of November 2014, over 1500 mobile models accounting for 700 million units were shipped globally in 2014, using MediaTek chips, and the company posted revenues of US$5.3 billion in the first half of 2014, nearly as much as the whole of 2013. The revenue growth was however partly due to revenue recognition from the acquisition of MStar which became effective at the beginning of 2014. In September 2019, MediaTek collaborated with VVDN Technologies to design, manufacture new-age AIoT solutions. On November 25, 2019, MediaTek and Intel announced a partnership to bring 5G to PCs in 2021. MediaTek overtook Qualcomm as the largest vendor of smartphone chipsets in the world in the third quarter of 2020, mainly due to significant growth in the Indian and Latin American markets. In May 2023, the company announced a new collaboration with Nvidia, using Dimensity to power advanced vehicle infotainment systems for automakers.

Acquisitions In 2005, MediaTek acquired Inprocomm, a wireless semiconductor design company producing 802.11a, b and a/g chips. On September 10, 2007, MediaTek announced its intention to buy Analog Devices cellular radio and baseband chipset divisions for US$350 million. The acquisition was finalised by January 11, 2008. On May 5, 2011, MediaTek acquired Ralink Technology Corporation, gaining products and expertise for Wi-Fi technology for mobile and non-mobile applications, as well as for wired DSL and Ethernet connectivity. On April 11, 2012, MediaTek acquired Coresonic, a global producer of digital signal processing products based in Linköping, Sweden. Coresonic became a wholly owned subsidiary of MediaTek in Europe. On June 22, 2012, MediaTek announced it would acquire a rival Taiwanese chipset designer MStar Semiconductor Inc., which held a strong market share position in digital television chips. The initial phase of the deal saw MediaTek taking a 48 percent stake, with an option to purchase the remaining stake later. The following merger between MediaTek and MStar was delayed by antitrust concerns in China and South Korea and finalized on February 1, 2014. On September 7, 2015, MediaTek announced to buy Richtek Technology Corp., a fabless vendor of analog ICs and power management ICs based in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Richtek became a wholly subsidiary of MediaTek after the completion of the acquisition in the second quarter of 2016.

Financial performance

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with MediaTek

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what MediaTek claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to MediaTek before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about MediaTek ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of MediaTek

In research: MediaTek appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses MediaTek in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: MediaTek is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2001 initial public offerings, ARM architecture, Companies based in Hsinchu, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for MediaTek outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study MediaTek in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what MediaTek means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain MediaTek out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is MediaTek in simple terms?

Why does MediaTek matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study MediaTek?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on MediaTek.