TAIPEI, Feb 4, 2026, 21:41 (GMT+8)
- MediaTek announced plans to tweak chip prices due to rising costs and supply chain pressure from AI-driven demand.
- CEO Rick Tsai predicted the company’s data centre ASIC revenue will surpass $1 billion by 2026.
- Revenue in the fourth quarter climbed 8.8% to T$150.2 billion, but net income slipped 3.6% to T$23.1 billion.
MediaTek announced Wednesday it plans to raise chip prices as AI-driven demand squeezes the global semiconductor supply chain and drives costs up. (Reuters)
The warning comes as electronics companies finalize their 2026 production plans, scrambling to secure parts that are increasingly scarce, particularly in high-end computing. MediaTek, a major chip designer in Taiwan, holds pricing power that can ripple through the wider market.
Rick Tsai, MediaTek’s CEO, acknowledged the industry is “facing challenges” in keeping up with “the increasing needs in 2026,” linking the pressure directly to AI demand. He added that the company plans to focus its supply on products that offer higher returns.
MediaTek posted Q4 revenue of T$150.2 billion ($4.76 billion), marking an 8.8% increase year-over-year. However, net income dipped 3.6% to T$23.1 billion. Its stock rose 0.3% before the earnings report and has climbed 26% this year, outperforming the broader market. (Business Standard)
Tsai didn’t specify when or by how much prices would change, but noted that MediaTek plans to “adjust our pricings” to account for rising supply-chain expenses and will distribute supply among products according to profitability.
Some of the immediate momentum stems from Nvidia-related computing projects. MediaTek teamed up with Nvidia to co-develop the GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, which powers Nvidia’s DGX Spark personal AI supercomputer. Tsai noted that the feedback has been “very positive.”
In prepared remarks, Tsai revealed MediaTek anticipates data centre ASIC revenue topping $1 billion in 2026, with “multiple” billions expected in 2027. An ASIC, or application-specific integrated circuit, refers to a chip tailored for a particular customer or workload. Tsai also estimated the total addressable market for data-centre ASICs at $50 billion to $70 billion, noting the company is ramping up investments in advanced packaging and associated technologies to back that growth.
The remarks come alongside a warning for smartphones, still MediaTek’s biggest segment. Tsai noted the company anticipates a hit to overall smartphone demand “under the pressure of increasing memory and BOM costs”—with BOM referring to the bill of materials, or the component costs that go into building a device—and projected a steep quarter-on-quarter decline in Mobile Phone revenue for the first quarter.
MediaTek forecasted revenue between T$141.2 billion and T$150.2 billion for the March quarter, projecting a gross margin near 46%, with a margin of error of 1.5 percentage points, per their prepared remarks.
MediaTek’s pricing strategy isn’t without risks. Customers might resist the hikes, and if supply chain issues ease, the company could struggle to pass on these higher costs—especially if smartphone demand drops more than anticipated.
Tsai confirmed that MediaTek has locked in the capacity required for growth sectors like data-centre ASICs. The company is setting its sights on 2026, expecting it to be another year dominated by the “AI mega trend.”
