The global smartphone applications processor (AP) market grew 23 percent to $30.8 billion in 2021, according to Strategy Analytics' Handset Component Technologies (HCT) service report. According to this Strategy Analytics' Handset Component Technologies (HCT) research report, " Smartphone Apps Processor Market Share Tracker Q4 2021: Qualcomm Increases Revenue Share Lead", Qualcomm, MediaTek, Apple, Samsung LSI and Unisoc grabbed the top-five revenue share ranking spots in the smartphone applications processor (AP) market in 2021.

Sravan Kundojjala, author of the report and Director of Handset Component Technologies service at Strategy Analytics, commented, "For the first time on an annual basis, MediaTek overtook Qualcomm in units and established over 75 million unit-lead in smartphone APs 2021. MediaTek capitalized on Qualcomm's defocus on mid and low tier 4G LTE APs and gained volume share. Despite the loss of unit share crown, Qualcomm exited 2021 with over 43% higher revenue than MediaTek, thanks to an increased mix of higher-priced premium and high-tier APs. Both companies performed well in the 5G AP segment and posted a 13-year high in their AP average selling prices (ASPs)."

MediaTek has announced it is the first TV SoC vendor to support Dolby Vision IQ with Precision Detail. Precision Detail is a new innovative feature introduced for TVs with Dolby Vision IQ, which will be supported in MediaTek's Pentonic series for 8K and 4K smart TVs. In addition, the Pentonic series will enable TV manufacturers to support features designed for gaming in Dolby Vision along with other advanced capabilities. MediaTek and Dolby collaborated on the implementation of these technologies, which will be available starting in 2H 2022 for TV OEMs to begin adopting.

Joining Dolby's suite of Advanced Imaging technologies available through Dolby Vision IQ, Precision Detail unlocks more from Dolby Vision content by revealing incredible detail in both bright and dark areas. With added texture and depth, images take on a new dimension with astonishing crispness on 8K and 4K smart TVs. In addition to Precision Detail, MediaTek's Intelligent View technology paired with Dolby's latest advancements in imaging technology can process multiple Dolby Vision streams simultaneously. Consumers can now watch different media sources at the same time in Dolby Vision in multiple windows, all in stunning detail.

According to TrendForce research, due to vigorous stocking of various terminal applications causing a shortage of wafers in 2021, the global IC industry was severely undersupplied. This, coupled with spiking chip prices, boosted 2021 revenue of the global top ten IC design companies to US$127.4 billion, or 48% YoY. TrendForce further indicates three major disparities from the 2020 ranking. First, NVIDIA surpassed Broadcom to take the second position. Second, Taiwanese companies Novatek and Realtek rose to sixth and eighth place, respectively. Originally ranked tenth, Dialog was replaced at this position by Himax after Dialog was acquired by IDM giant Renesas.

Qualcomm continues its reign as number one in the world, primarily due to 51% and 63% growth YoY in sales of mobile phone SoC (System on Chip) and IoT chips, respectively. The addition of diversified development in its RF and automotive chip businesses were key to a 51% increase in revenue. NVIDIA implemented an integration of software and hardware, demonstrating its ambitions in creating a "comprehensive computing platform." Driven by annual growth of gaming graphics card and data center revenue at 64% and 59%, respectively, NVIDIA successfully climbed to second place. Broadcom benefited from the stable sales performance of network chips, broadband communication chips, and storage and bridging chips, with revenue growing 18% YoY. AMD's computer and graphics revenue grew by 45% YoY due to strong sales of the Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPU and rising average selling price. Coupled with accelerating demand from cloud companies, the annual revenue of AMD's enterprise, embedded, and semi-customized divisions increased by 113%, driving annual growth of total revenue to 68%.

You'd be forgiven if you're not familiar with Airoha, as although the company has been around since 2001, it's been a company that has mostly been flying under the radar. Back in 2007, Mediatek became a majority shareholder by buying out Benq's stake in Airoha and a decade later, MediaTek merged some of its business units into Airoha, which is the opposite way to how it normally goes. MediaTek is getting ready to list Airoha on the Taiwanese stock market and this comes with several benefits to the company. Airoha's main product line is Bluetooth chips, but it also makes various solutions for GPS/GNSS, WiFi, DVB-S and xPON internet gateways and routers. Sony is one of its major customers, after the company switched from Qualcomm to MediaTek/Airoha a few years ago. Other customers are said to be Beats by Apple, JBL by Harman (which in turn is owned by Samsung), Skullcandy and Xiaomio.

The company is said to first be listed on Taiwan's Emerging Stock Market for at least six months—a requirement by Taiwanese law—before the company will be making a full IPO. The company is said to be valued at US$3.3 billion, so despite being a mostly unheard of company, we're not talking about some little startup here. MediaTek is expecting Airoha to see a revenue growth of around 30 percent in 2022, from 2021 revenues of around US$562 million. As these things go, it would appear that the main reason for listing Airoha isn't directly to make money, but rather to try and appeal to current and future employees. This is because of the peculiar bonus structure in most companies in Taiwan, where all employees are given a share of the profits, largely regardless of their personal and departments performance. With Airoha going public, its employees will no longer have to share their bonuses with MediaTek employees, which could in theory lead to better bonuses for their employees.

MediaTek today launched the Dimensity 8100 and Dimensity 8000 system-on-chips (SoCs) to bring flagship level technology - connectivity, displays, gaming, multimedia and imaging features - to premium 5G smartphones. Both chips borrow the advanced technology from MediaTek's powerful flagship Dimensity 9000 platform and package it into the new Dimensity 8000 series which is built on the ultra-efficient TSMC 5 nm production process with an octa-core CPU. The Dimensity 8100 integrates four premium Arm Cortex-A78 cores with speeds reaching 2.85 GHz, and the Dimensity 8000 has four Cortex-A78 cores operating at up to 2.75 GHz.

"You could say the MediaTek Dimensity 8000 series is the little brother to our flagship Dimensity 9000 chip. Meaning it brings flagship grade features and next level energy efficiency to the premium smartphone market," said CH Chen, Deputy General Manager of MediaTek's Wireless Communications Business Unit. Both chips combine an Arm Mali-G610 MC6 GPU with MediaTek's HyperEngine 5.0 gaming technologies for exceptional power-efficiency that extends play time, and best-in-class frame rates - 170fps for the Dimensity 8100 and 140fps for the Dimensity 8000. Quad-channel LPDDR5 memory and UFS 3.1 storage ensure ultra-fast data streams.

VIA Technologies, Inc. today announced the launch of the VIA SOM-9X35 Starter Kit to accelerate time-to-market for retail, commercial, and industrial Edge AI devices. Featuring a flexible high-performance platform powered by the quad-core MediaTek i350 processor, the starter kit comes with a 7" LCD panel and touch panel display, a 13MP HD camera module, and dual speakers and microphone to provide a tightly integrated package for jumpstarting device development. Dual-band 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth 5.0, and optional 4G support provide the seamless connectivity required for myriad use cases.

"As AI moves increasingly to the edge, the demand for powerful and affordable edge devices with the power and flexibility to run intelligent vision applications such as facial, object, gesture, and motion recognition is rising at an exponential rate," commented Richard Brown, VP of International Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. "By combining the core compute, video, and display components in a single package, the VIA SOM-9X35 Starter Kit enables our customers to jumpstart the development of innovative devices to take advantage of these burgeoning market opportunities."

Exponential demand growth for remote and unmanned terminals in smart home, logistics, manufacturing and other end-user applications has driven iterative updates in Wi-Fi technology. Among the current generations of technologies, Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) is mainstream while Wi-Fi 6 and 6E (802.11ax) are at promotional stages, according to TrendForce's investigations. In order to meet the connection requirements of industry concepts such as the Metaverse, many major manufacturers have trained their focus on the faster and more stable next generation 802.11be Wi-Fi standard amendment, commonly known as Wi-Fi 7. Considering technical characteristics, maturity, and product certification status, Wi-Fi 6 and 6E are expected to surpass Wi-Fi 5 to become mainstream technology in 2022, with global market share expected to reach 58%.

MediaTek today announced its new Kompanio 1380 chip, which offers a new level of performance and best-in-class features for premium Chromebooks such as the new Acer Chromebook Spin 513. The Kompanio 1380 delivers incredible portable computing experiences with superb battery life, all in a compact form factor for slim and lightweight devices. "Kompanio 1380 continues MediaTek's legacy as the No. 1 chipmaker for Arm-based Chromebooks, elevating premium Chromebook experiences with next-level performance and extra-long battery life," said PC Tseng, general manager of Intelligent Multimedia Business Unit at MediaTek. "This chip stands out with its outstanding processing performance, best-in-class multimedia and AI features, and smooth cloud gaming capabilities, all integrated into an ultra-efficient 6 nm chip."

"Chromebook users have come to expect more from their Chromebooks, increasingly they are looking for their devices to strike a perfect balance of performance, weight and power efficiency," said John Solomon, VP of Chrome OS at Google. "The Kompanio 1380 is an integral part of delivering a great experience for users whether they're working from home, enjoying media on the go, or anything in between. We're excited to see its versatility come to life on the Acer Chromebook Spin 513, the first product to launch with this chip."

Worldwide semiconductor revenue increased 25.1% in 2021 to total $583.5 billion, crossing the $500 billion threshold for the first time, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc.

"As the global economy bounced back in 2021, shortages appeared throughout the semiconductor supply chain, particularly in the automotive industry," said Andrew Norwood, research vice president at Gartner. "The resulting combination of strong demand as well as logistics and raw material price increases drove semiconductors' average selling price higher (ASP), contributing to overall revenue growth in 2021.

MediaTek today announced the world's first live demo of Wi-Fi 7 technology, highlighting the capabilities of its forthcoming Wi-Fi 7 Filogic connectivity portfolio. MediaTek is currently showcasing two Wi-Fi 7 demos to key customers and industry collaborators to demonstrate the technology's super-fast speeds and low latency transmission.

"The rollout of Wi-Fi 7 will mark the first time that Wi-Fi can be a true wireline/Ethernet replacement for super high-bandwidth applications," said Alan Hsu, corporate vice president and general manager of the Intelligent Connectivity business at MediaTek. "MediaTek's Wi-Fi 7 technology will be the backbone of home, office and industrial networks and provide seamless connectivity for everything from multi-player AR/VR applications to cloud gaming and 4K calls to 8K streaming and beyond."

Acer today unveiled three new Chromebooks designed for consumers needing a secure, easy-to-use, and affordable device for productivity, entertainment and communication. These new Chromebooks come in three sizes and form factors, and are furnished with everything consumers need, plus exceptional audio and video technology for entertainment and video conferencing.

"This new trio of Acer Chromebooks offers the best of several worlds; they deliver solid performance capabilities, have great extra features, and give users the latest technology while staying within budget," said James Lin, General Manager, Notebooks, IT Products Business, Acer Inc. "Today's users need a reliable, easy-to-use means to stay productive, connected and entertained when they're at home—these three new Acer Chromebooks fit that bill."

The semicondustor market in 3Q21 is red hot with total revenue of the global top 10 IC design (fabless) companies reaching US$33.7 billion or 45% growth YoY, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. In addition to the Taiwanese companies MediaTek, Novatek, and Realtek already on the list, Himax comes in at number ten, bringing the total number of Taiwanese companies on the top 10 list to 4.

Qualcomm has been buoyed by continuing robust demand for 5G mobile phones form major mobile phone manufacturers with further revenue growth from its processor and radio frequency front end (RFFE) departments. Qualcomm's IoT department benefited from strong demand in the consumer electronics, edge networking, and industrial sectors, posting revenue growth of 66% YoY, highest among Qualcomm departments. In turn, this drove Qualcomm's total 3Q21 revenue to US$7.7 billion, 56% growth YoY, and ranking first in the world.

MediaTek today launched its Dimensity 9000 5G smartphone chip for next-generation flagship smartphones, and announced device maker adoption and endorsements from some of the world's biggest smartphone brands, including OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi and Honor. The first Dimensity 9000 powered flagship smartphones will be in the market in the first quarter of next year. The Dimensity 9000 - the world's first smartphone built on the ultra-efficient TMSC N4 (4 nm-class) production process - leads the industry in computing performance, gaming, imaging, multimedia and connectivity innovations.

"The Dimensity 9000 is a milestone for MediaTek, highlighting our rise to incredible with a true flagship 5G smartphone chip. This chip signals MediaTek and our Dimensity family has entered a new phase of innovation," said Dr. Yenchi Lee, Deputy General Manager of MediaTek's Wireless Communications Business Unit. "The Dimensity 9000 is the most powerful and energy-efficient chip to date, delivering a number of industry firsts and a full suite of features for the most discerning tech enthusiasts."

As the global vaccination rate rose, and border restrictions in Europe and North America eased, social activities also began to enter a period of recovery, with the consumer electronics market seemingly ready for the arrival of the traditional peak season in 2H21, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. At the same time, however, the global supply chain was affected by delays in maritime transport, skyrocketing shipping costs, and component shortages, in addition to already-prohibitive price hikes for certain components in 1H21. Given the parallel rise in both material and manufacturing costs, the market for end products has not undergone the expected cyclical upturn in 2H21. Even so, the overall demand for and shipment of smartphones, notebook computers, and monitors experienced QoQ increases in 3Q21, thereby driving up businesses for major OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) companies. For 3Q21, the revenues of the top 10 OSAT companies reached US$8.89 billion, a 31.6% YoY increase.

With ever increasing computational needs from TV SoCs, as we're moving towards higher resolutions and refresh rates, MediaTek is getting ready for the next generation of 8K TVs with its new Pentonic 2000 SoC. This is the world's first TV SoC to support the new H.266 video codec standard, which is an evolution of the H.265 intended for 8K content.

The Pentonic 2000 is fabbed using TSMC's N7 node and it's the first commercial TV SoC to be made on this manufacturing process according to MediaTek. The SoC supports 8K resolution content at up to 120 Hz with MEMC (Motion Estimation, Motion Compensation) and has an integrated AI engine to help improve scaling from lower resolutions. MediaTek also claims that the Pentonic 2000 features the "industry's most powerful CPU and GPU" in a smart TV SoC, without giving away any actual details, although it the SoC does support UFS 3.1 storage, which suggests that we're looking at a recent Arm Cortex-A7x based SoC at the very least.

Micron Technology, Inc. announced today that MediaTek Inc. has validated Micron's low-power double data rate 5X (LPDDR5X) DRAM for MediaTek's new Dimensity 9000 5G flagship chipset for smartphones. Micron is the first semiconductor company to sample and validate this fastest, most advanced mobile memory in the industry and has shipped the first batch of samples of LPDDR5X built on its first-to-market 1α (1-alpha) node. Designed for high-end and flagship smartphones, Micron's LPDDR5X allows the smartphone ecosystem to unlock the next wave of data-intensive applications powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G innovation.

The market delivery and validation of Micron's industry-leading 1α-based LPDDR5X solidifies its product innovation and leadership in the mobile ecosystem, following industry-first launches for LPDDR5, 1α-based LPDDR4X, 176-layer NAND-based UFS 3.1 and uMCP5 solutions. This most recent milestone follows quickly on the heels of JEDEC's July release of the LPDDR5X extension to LPDDR5, created to offer higher bandwidth and memory speed for enhanced 5G communication and performance while still conserving power. Micron has validated samples supporting data rates up to 7.5 Gb/s, with samples supporting data rates up to 8.533 Gb/s to follow. Peak LPDDR5X speeds of 8.533 Gb/s deliver up to 33% faster performance than previous-generation LPDDR5.

"Innovating cutting-edge smartphone experiences requires memory technology built to address the massive bandwidth demands of the mobile market," said Raj Talluri, senior vice president and general manager of Micron's Mobile Business Unit. "Our collaboration with MediaTek to validate the world's most advanced mobile memory empowers the ecosystem to deliver the next wave of rich mobile features enhanced by 5G and AI."

MediaTek and AMD announced a collaboration to co-engineer industry leading Wi-Fi solutions, starting with the AMD RZ600 Series Wi-Fi 6E modules containing MediaTek's new Filogic 330P chipset. The Filogic 330P chipset will power next-generation AMD Ryzen-series laptop and desktop PCs in 2022 and beyond, delivering fast Wi-Fi speeds with low latency and less interference from other signals.

To optimize the AMD RZ600 Series Wi-Fi 6E modules with a focus on delivering seamless connectivity experiences for customers, AMD and MediaTek developed and certified PCIe and USB interfaces for modern sleep states and power management, which are vital elements of modern customer experiences. Further, the optimization process included stress testing and ensuring compatibility standards, which may ultimately reduce development time for OEM customers.

A few years ago, MediaTek decided to leave the high-end mobile device SoC space as it decided to focus on the mid-range and entry level market, but as of today, that is no longer the case. The company has announced its new flagship Dimensity 9000 SoC and it packs all the latest cutting edge mobile SoC features you'd expect to see.

The Dimensity 9000 is based entirely on the new Arm v9 architecture and the chip itself is built in TSMC's 4 nm node, which gives MediaTek a lead on all its competitors, but Apple. As for the Arm cores in question, the main core is a Cortex-X2 at 3.05 GHz, which is accompanied by three Cortex-A710 cores at 2.85 GHz and four power efficient Cortex-A510 cores at 1.8 GHz. All of these new Arm cores were only announced at the end of May this year, so MediaTek has clearly been burning the midnight oil to get the Dimensity 9000 out before its competitors' new chips based on the Arm v9 architecture.

Intel has dominated the client Wi-Fi + Bluetooth network adapter market in the PC space for some time now, particularly with WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E interfaces integrated with motherboards. Even on the AMD platform, motherboard vendors have extensively packaged not just Intel-branded WiFi + Bluetooth modules, but also their wired LAN controllers. In the commercial desktop and commercial notebook markets, Intel leverages this position to push its vPro management suite, with Intel WLAN controllers featuring vPro support. This is something felt lacking in the rival AMD PRO ecosystem, and something the company is looking to change with its collaboration with MediaTek.

AMD RZ660 will be the first controller based on this partnership. Based on the MediaTek Filogic 330P chipset, the controller combines WiFi 6E (6 GHz), with the latest generation Bluetooth (at least Bluetooth 5.2). Driver software and support for this solution will be handled by AMD, as would distribution. MediaTek stated that the first notebooks and desktop PCs (includes DIY motherboards) featuring the AMD RZ660 will debut in 2022. The AMD-supplied driver software would also enable the company to create special "PRO" variants of the RZ660 to bundle with its Ryzen PRO SoCs for the commercial PC and workstation markets. There doesn't appear to be any such collaboration with wired Ethernet, as there is an even competition between Intel and Realtek over the 2.5 GbE PHY market, with both companies offering gaming-specific variants—Intel Killer and Realtek DragonLAN.

MediaTek today announced the new MediaTek Filogic 130 and Filogic 130A system-on-chips (SoCs) which both integrate a microprocessor (MCU), AI engine, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 subsystems, and a power management unit (PMU) into a single chip. Filogic 130A also integrates an audio digital signal processor to allow device makers to easily add voice assistants and other services into their products. These all-in-one solutions deliver energy-efficient, reliable and high performance connectivity in small form factor designs that are ideal for a wide range of IoT devices.

"In the coming years, advanced connectivity technologies like Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 will become a must-have for smart home devices with the increasing need for more AI processing power, energy efficiency and robust security. MediaTek's Filogic 130 and Filogic 130A solutions offer the perfect combination of features to help drive this transition," said Alan Hsu, Corporate Vice President & General Manager, Intelligent Connectivity at MediaTek. "Each solution has a highly integrated design that packs the latest on-chip processing and power-management technologies into an ultra-small design no bigger than the size of a thumbnail."

According to an industry report by IC Insights, AMD will see a yearly growth rate of no less than 65 percent this year, compared to 2020, whereas Intel is expected to have a slightly negative growth rate of one percent. The report includes the top 25 semiconductor sales leaders, ranked by growth rate, although it should be pointed out that some of them are foundries and not just semiconductor companies.

AMD is closely followed by MediaTek, which is expected to reach a 60 percent growth rate this year, followed by Nvidia at 54 percent and Qualcomm and 51 percent growth. The only surprise in the top five is PRC based SMIC, which saw a 39 percent growth this year, despite, or maybe because of the US sanctions against various Chinese IC makers.

Acer today debuted four new Chromebooks that meet a range of customer needs, ranging from home and business users to hybrid workers and students. Equipped with the latest processors and sought-after features such as reliable Wi-Fi 6, video conferencing technology and durable designs, the new Acer Chromebooks keep customers connected, productive and entertained.

"Acer's expansive line of Chromebooks means that we're well-equipped to meet any sort of customer need—from display size, processors, durability, connectivity and more," said James Lin, General Manager, Notebooks, IT Products Business, Acer Inc. "Whether a customer needs a device for work, school or entertainment, we've got a Chromebook with exactly the features they're looking for."

MediaTek today unveiled its new Filogic connectivity family with the introduction of the Filogic 830 Wi-Fi 6/6E system-on-chip (SoC) and Filogic 630 Wi-Fi 6E network interface card (NIC) solutions. MediaTek's new Filogic series of high-performance Wi-Fi 6/6E chipsets provide reliable connectivity, high computation capabilities and a rich set of features in highly integrated, power-efficient designs.

"The MediaTek Filogic series ushers in a new era of smart Wi-Fi solutions with extreme speeds, low latency and superb power efficiency for seamless, always connected experiences," said Alan Hsu, Corporate Vice President & General Manager, Intelligent Connectivity at MediaTek. "These new chipsets provide best-in-class features with highly integrated designs for the next generation of premium broadband, enterprise and retail Wi-Fi solutions."

In view of the ongoing production capacity shortage in the semiconductor industry and the resultant price hike of chips, revenue of the top 10 IC design companies for 2Q21 reached US$29.8 billion, a 60.8% YoY increase, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. In particular, Taiwanese companies put up remarkable performances during this period, with both MediaTek and Novatek posting YoY growths of more than 95%. AMD, on the other hand, experienced a nearly 100% YoY revenue growth, the highest among the top 10.

TrendForce indicates that the ranking of the top five companies for 2Q21 remained unchanged from the previous quarter, although there were major changes in the 6th to 10th spots. More specifically, after finalizing its acquisition of Inphi, Marvell experienced a major revenue growth and leapfrogged Xilinx and Realtek in the rankings from 9th place in 1Q21 to 7th place in 2Q21.

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in standards development for the microelectronics industry, today announced the publication of JESD233: XFM Embedded and Removable Memory Device (XFMD) standard. XFMD (XFM stands for Crossover Flash Memory) is a new universal data storage media providing an NVMe over PCI Express interface in a small, thin form factor. The device is designed to bring replaceable storage to devices typically soldered down in IoT devices and embedded applications. Developed by JEDEC's JC-64.1 Subcommittee for Electrical Specifications and Command Protocols, JESD233 is available for download from the JEDEC website.

JESD233 XFMD is a removable, versatile memory solution intended for use in a wide range of applications that require an easy device exchange. Examples include IoT devices, automotive applications, notebook PCs, gaming consoles, video recording devices (drones, surveillance systems, etc.), Extended Reality (AR, VR, MR), and more.

To maximize connectivity between the host and the device, JESD233 XFMD leverages industry-leading standards from PCI-SIG and NVM Express, Inc. The PCI Express interface provides fundamental bus connectivity and NVM Express serves as the higher level protocol for accessing the non-volatile media as a low-latency logical storage device.