The artificial intelligence boom is demanding increasingly specialized hardware, but building custom AI processors from scratch is a logistical nightmare. To solve this, NVIDIA and MediaTek are significantly expanding their partnership, with the two chipmakers now working together across data centres, consumer PCs and automotive platforms.
As part of this deal, NVIDIA has also invested $3.5 billion into MediaTek as convertible bonds. This investment will result into a technology partnership focused on building the next generation of AI computing platforms.
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The Bigger Play Is Custom AI Chips
The most important part of the partnership is likely to be in AI infrastructure.
MediaTek is adopting NVIDIA’s NVLink Fusion platform, which will allow hyperscalers and cloud companies to build their own custom AI accelerators while still plugging into NVIDIA’s broader infrastructure.
This matters because designing an AI chip is only part of the challenge. Companies also need high-bandwidth memory, advanced packaging, high-speed interconnects, networking and a way to manufacture and deploy those chips at rack scale.
Under the partnership, customers will be able to bring their custom XPU designs to MediaTek and customise areas such as memory, connectivity, packaging, power and performance.
NVIDIA and MediaTek will then provide much of the supporting technology needed to turn those designs into production-ready AI systems.
NVIDIA and MediaTek Are Going After AI PCs Too
The companies are also expanding their work in personal computing.
MediaTek previously collaborated with NVIDIA on the GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip powering DGX Spark. Their partnership will now extend across multiple generations of DGX Spark and RTX Spark chips, combining NVIDIA GPUs with MediaTek-designed SoCs for consumer PCs, developer systems and workstations.
For MediaTek, this potentially opens another route into the higher-end PC market, while NVIDIA gets an experienced SoC partner with expertise in power-efficient chip design.
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Cars Are the Third Piece of the Puzzle
NVIDIA and MediaTek will also continue working together on automotive computing.
MediaTek’s Dimensity Auto chips already incorporate NVIDIA technology for AI and RTX-powered graphics and can operate alongside NVIDIA DRIVE AGX systems.
The companies plan to continue developing these platforms over multiple generations as cars increasingly become software-defined and rely more heavily on onboard AI.
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