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Not ByteDance: MediaTek Lands Second Major AI Chip Customer, Mass Production Set for 2028
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MediaTek has confirmed that it has secured a second AI application-specific integrated circuit (AI ASIC) customer. The company disclosed at its Q3 2026 earnings call held on October 30 that the customer's identity has not yet been announced, and the project is expected to enter mass production in 2028 and begin contributing revenue. In response to market speculation that the customer is ByteDance, MediaTek clarified that the customer is not a Chinese company.
Public information shows that MediaTek's first AI ASIC customer is Google, with cooperation mainly centered on Google TPU AI accelerators. MediaTek's first data center AI accelerator began small-volume shipments in September 2026. The news of a second customer has drawn greater outside attention to the progress of its AI ASIC business.
On performance, MediaTek's third-quarter consolidated revenue reached NT$168.06 billion, up 10.4% quarter-on-quarter and 18.3% year-on-year. Gross margin was stable at 46.3%, net profit was NT$28.2 billion, and earnings per share were NT$17.50. Management expects that, driven by growth in AI accelerator ASIC shipments, fourth-quarter revenue will reach NT$210.1 billion to NT$221.8 billion, up 25% to 32% quarter-on-quarter.
MediaTek Vice Chairman and CEO Tsai Ming-kai said demand for the first AI accelerator remains strong and that it began small-batch shipments in September. The company is confident of achieving its fourth-quarter revenue target of US$2.5 billion and of reaching the upper end of its 2027 revenue target range of about US$16 billion, equivalent to about a 20% share of the global AI accelerator ASIC market.
Regarding rumors that the second-generation AI ASIC may be delayed, Joseph Tsai said R&D progress remains on plan. Some dies in the multi-chip design have completed tape-out; although the larger, more complex dies require an additional few weeks, the overall project is still advancing according to the original timetable. This statement responded to market concerns about the project's progress.
In advanced packaging, MediaTek is working with a U.S. IDM manufacturer and a substrate supplier to improve yield. The market speculates that the partner is Intel and the technology may be EMIB-T. Joseph Tsai emphasized that MediaTek will not rely on a single supplier, and TSMC remains its most important partner.
From a business cadence perspective, the first AI accelerator has entered the small-volume shipment stage, and the second customer project is targeted for mass production in 2028. MediaTek also provided fourth-quarter and 2027 revenue targets and disclosed progress in second-generation product R&D and packaging cooperation. AI ASIC is becoming an important growth direction for its data center business.
