Qualcomm and MediaTek Expand Rivalry into Cloud AI Chips

Sep 26, 2025
Qualcomm and MediaTek are shifting their competition from smartphones to cloud AI chips, as announced at COMPUTEX 2025. Both companies are joining Nvidia's NVLink Fusion consortium to enhance their positions in the AI infrastructure market.

Qualcomm Technologies and MediaTek are extending their competitive landscape from smartphones to the burgeoning cloud AI ASIC market. This strategic shift was announced at COMPUTEX 2025, where both companies revealed their plans to join Nvidia's NVLink Fusion consortium, aiming to strengthen their foothold in high-performance computing.

MediaTek is leveraging its speed and partnerships, utilizing Arm reference designs and TSMC's advanced nodes to push into cloud AI ASICs. The company has demonstrated its 224G SerDes technology, highlighting its interconnect capabilities and partnerships with Nvidia and Google.

On the other hand, Qualcomm is focusing on integration and depth. Since acquiring Nuvia in 2021, Qualcomm has developed its Oryon CPU and expanded its technology stack with the acquisition of Alphawave. The company is enhancing its production flexibility with dual foundry options and preparing chips for large language model training and inference.

This rivalry in cloud AI chips could redefine the competitive landscape in AI hardware, with both companies poised to leverage their strengths in speed and integration to capture market share.

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