TAIPEI, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Demand growth for AI will continue "for sure" although the rate may vary, said Rick Tsai, CEO of Taiwan's largest chip designer MediaTek, on Friday.
Here are some details from the company's third quarter earnings call:
• Tsai said demand for its first AI accelerator remains strong, with initial shipments starting last month to generate $2.5 billion of revenue in Q4
• For the second AI accelerator project, high-volume production is on track for Q1 of 2028, he said
• The company
reported third-quarter revenue of T$168.1 billion ($5.16 billion), up 18.3% from a year earlier. Net income rose 10.8% year-on-year to T$28.2 billion.
• MediaTek said in August it issued a record $3.9 billion in overseas convertible bonds, of which Nvidia invested $3.5 billion. Alphabet also participated in the offering
• The company has been reducing its reliance on smartphones and aims to become a significant supplier of custom AI chips to major cloud providers
• MediaTek, a customer of the world's largest contract chipmaker TSMC, is the second-most valuable company on the Taiwan stock exchange, with a market capitalisation of $200 billion
• "TSMC is our most important partner, we are working with them closely in every part of the technology chain," Tsai said
• MediaTek shares closed down 3.2% on Friday ahead of the results. They have risen 174% this year, compared with a 56% gain in Taiwan's benchmark index.
($1 = 32.5940 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)
