#computex2025 | MediaTek’s Big AI Push Is Bold But Can They Deliver?
At Computex 2025, MediaTek showed up with something to prove. While NVIDIA and Qualcomm continue to dominate AI headlines, MediaTek came armed with an ambitious theme: “AI for Everyone: From Edge to Cloud.” The promise? A unified platform that connects homes, devices, and data centers in one AI-accelerated ecosystem. The reality, though, might be a little more complicated.
During his keynote, MediaTek CEO Dr. Rick Tsai painted a future where hybrid AI computing bridges the gap between edge and cloud, empowering smart homes, autonomous vehicles, and industrial systems. The company’s new 5G Generative AI Gateway was front and center which is a conceptual device fusing their 5G FWA platform with on-device AI to reduce latency and enhance privacy.
The product bagged a Best Choice Award at the event, but beyond the sleek branding and impressive specs, there’s still a question: who exactly is this for, and how soon will it be more than just a demo on a show floor?
A Smart Home That Thinks for You
One of MediaTek’s bolder concepts was the “AI Hub,” a smart home system where devices communicate using embedded AI agents, essentially working like personal assistants that can anticipate your needs. It’s a cool pitch, one that partners like NVIDIA seem to be backing with their own “device cloud” and “RAN cloud” concepts.
But while the sci-fi pitch sounds good, the fragmented nature of existing smart home ecosystems is a real challenge. MediaTek’s solutions would have to coexist with Google, Amazon, Apple, and a half-dozen other protocols which is a level of interoperability that’s historically been a nightmare. MediaTek says they’re solving that. We’ll believe it when it works seamlessly across platforms without needing a dedicated engineering team to make it function.
Big Talk in the Cloud
MediaTek’s partnership with NVIDIA on the GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip sounds massive on paper. The result is DGX Spark, a desktop AI supercomputer that claims up to 1000 TOPS performance. Designed to handle AI models with 200 billion parameters. A serious flex aimed at cloud developers.
But the AI chip space isn’t just crowded and it’s fiercely competitive. AMD, Intel, and custom silicon vendors are all racing toward similar performance benchmarks. Unless MediaTek and NVIDIA can make DGX Spark more accessible and better supported than its rivals, it risks becoming yet another impressive tool for a very narrow slice of users.
In-Car AI
MediaTek is also betting big on the automotive space, showcasing its Dimensity Auto Cockpit and Dimensity Auto Connect platforms. Features like 8K displays, Dolby Atmos audio, and even a virtual assistant running on generative AI models are eye-catching. The Connect MT2739 adds AI-powered network switching and emergency call features in case of collisions.
It’s clear they want to compete with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Ride or NVIDIA’s Drive platforms, but without deeper automotive partnerships, these features might end up being the tech equivalent of a concept car which is cool to look at, not quite ready for the road.
IoT and Genio
The Genio platform is MediaTek’s answer to the fragmented IoT market. It covers everything from smart home devices to industrial robotics and includes NVIDIA TAO integration for developers building AI models at the edge. The new Genio 720/520 chips promise generative AI performance in compact form factors.
That sounds great for developers, but the real challenge is market traction. Competing against Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and established industrial OEMs won’t be easy unless MediaTek can offer easier integration, better support, and long-term supply guarantees. These are three things developers care about more than flashy AI demos.
The Antenna Problem
MediaTek did make a few clever moves with antenna tech, solving one of wearables’ most persistent problems which is poor 5G/6G reception due to size constraints. Their collaborative multi-antenna tech lets nearby devices like smartphones act as signal boosters for wearables, improving throughput indoors where signal blockage is common.
If it works as intended, this could be a game-changer for smartwatches and AR glasses. That said, MediaTek will have to convince manufacturers to adopt and integrate this across devices, and that’s not a given.
Multimedia Tech: Specs Versus Real Impact
The company also flexed its multimedia muscles with a mini-LED SoC and an 8K 60Hz AI-enhanced scaler. Their pitch is clear: higher brightness, better color gamut, and lower power consumption than OLED.
But the real-world impact of these advancements depends heavily on cost and adoption. Consumers aren’t clamoring for 8K content, and mini-LED panels still struggle to beat OLED’s deep blacks and mature ecosystem. It’s a technical win, but maybe not a commercial one just yet.
Bottomline
MediaTek’s Computex 2025 showcase was packed with ideas. Some are forward-thinking, some are aspirational, and others still feel like they’re a few firmware updates away from being practical. The company’s desire to be seen as more than just a smartphone chip supplier is obvious, and this year’s theme of “AI for Everyone” is smart branding.
But for MediaTek to truly play on the same field as NVIDIA or even Qualcomm, these concepts need to leave the expo floor and find their way into products people use every day.
This is a bold vision for AI from a company clearly eager to grow. Now comes the hard part which is actually delivering.