MediaTek earmarks up to $5 billion to fund AI data‑center chip push

MediaTek, Taiwan's largest chip designer, announced its board approved a discretionary financing budget of up to $5 billion to support long‑term growth and its expansion into custom AI chips for data‑center workloads. CEO Rick Tsai said the flexible framework will let the company agilely back its AI ambitions and target a 15‑20% share of the custom ASIC market, which it now estimates at $80 billion in 2027.

The firm expects its data‑center AI chip business to generate more than $2 billion in revenue in 2026, with the first custom AI ASIC entering production in Q4 2026 and a second volume‑production chip slated for 2028. MediaTek also reported a 20% drop in mobile‑chip revenue and cited a 15% projected decline in global smartphone shipments, prompting price adjustments.