Mediatek set to make an Arm PC chip next year, report says

Mediatek could be the next entrant into the Windows on Arm processor space, according to a new report.

Reuters is reporting that one of the more well-known rumors in the chip space—that Mediatek is making an Arm processor for PCs—is real. The wire service says that Mediatek is set to announce its chip in late 2025, according to multiple sources.

Microsoft signed an exclusivity deal with Qualcomm to design Arm chips for PCs that’s set to expire sometime this year, according to sources. That deal hasn’t been officially confirmed. (Arm chief executive Rene Haas, whose company licenses its processor technology to firms like Qualcomm and Mediatek, also referred to the deal as a rumor in PCWorld’s interview at Computex.)

Mediatek already develops processors for Chromebooks, known as the Kompanio lineup, which competes directly with Qualcomm in that space. John Solomon, the vice president at Google in charge of ChromeOS, told PCWorld that he expects to “have more Arm in [the Chromebook] portfolio going forward.”

In some sense, this is old news. In 2021, Mediatek first began talking about its plans to enter the Windows on Arm market. In 2022, Mediatek spelled out its PC plans a bit more.

“We absolutely believe in the long-term potential of Windows on Arm,” Mediatek’s Adam King, the vice president of Mediatek’s client computing business, said then. “We think that the market will over the long term transition to Arm-based processors. Because of the power and area efficiency that I described. It’s not inevitable—it requires lots of work and lots of barriers to be overcome. But the benefit is clearly there. I can say that we’re working on plans today. I just can’t share them with you yet.”

Mediatek’s presence in Chromebooks wouldn’t preclude Mediatek from shipping a version of the Kompanio processor for the PC. Mediatek also has a relationship with Nvidia, with whom it has co-developed an Arm chip for the automotive space. (Reuters noted that Nvidia is reportedly working on an Arm chip for PCs, but the company hasn’t confirmed that either. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang was asked about such a chip at a press conference at Computex in Taiwan, but declined to comment.)

Arm’s Haas also told Reuters that he predicts more than half of the world’s PCs will run Arm by 2029, rather than the x86 chips manufactured by AMD or Intel.

So far, all of the upcoming moves by Arm vendors in the PC space are occurring beneath the surface. But if these ripples come to pass, expect them to begin building into waves.

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• Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2365552/mediatek-set-to-make-an-arm-pc-chip-next-year-report-says.html