Funds to be used to expand its R&D capabilities and set up an innovation centre in Singapore

SINGAPORE — July 1, 2014 — MediaTek, a global fabless semiconductor company, and a market leader in cutting-edge systems on chip (SoC) for wireless communications and connectivity, DTV, DVD, Blu-ray, and Internet of Things (IoT) celebrates its 10th year in Singapore with a SGD250 million financial commitment.

MediaTek Singapore is already one of the company’s most advanced global research and development centres, helping to lead world-class RF solution development for mobile, broadcast and connectivity applications to help drive IoT. In addition to research, MediaTek Singapore is the regional hub for logistics and manufacturing operations while also serving as IT operations and management centre for the Asia Pacific region.

Marking this anniversary and reinforcing its long-term commitment to Singapore, MediaTek is committing to spend more than SGD250 million by 2020 to expand its R&D operations.  It will establish an innovation centre in Singapore that aims to develop consumer, medical and industrial IoT opportunities, such as smart city, health and wellness products and applications. This strategic R&D leverages Singapore’s well-established healthcare infrastructure and its desire to build a smarter city using the latest technology to improve people’s lives.

MediaTek decided to boost its R&D capability in Singapore to enhance its technology competitiveness and to enable the development of affordable solutions that meet the needs of the billions of consumers in the rising Super-mid market. The money will be used to build advanced integrated circuit (IC) design capability in high speed Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). These are currently the main differentiators and requirements for consumer products such as smartphones, tablets and smart TV’s that combine high performance and energy-efficiency at affordable prices.

“We are delighted that MediaTek plans to significantly expand its IC design centre here, making it the largest in Singapore with over 300 engineers.” said Mr. Leo Yip, Chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board. “The IC design centre and the new innovation centre will develop exciting new products and applications, enabling Singapore to harness growth opportunities from the Internet of Things.”

MediaTek is driven to make technology accessible to everyone with high quality and affordable products, thereby enabling everyone to do more, enjoy more and achieve their fullest potential. “With technology in hand, we believe anyone can achieve something amazing and with it become an Everyday Genius,” said Mr. Ming-Kai Tsai, MediaTek Chairman and CEO.

Since its inception in 2004, MediaTek Singapore has grown exponentially to a 250-person organisation. Over the last 10 years, the company has invested over SGD180 million in this Singapore R&D facility. This new commitment underscores MediaTek’s confidence in Singapore’s R&D environment, business landscape and infrastructure as an area to grow its business. 

Apart from technology development, MediaTek will also work closely with academia in fostering a strong technical talent pool in Singapore as well as promoting next generation technologies through research. For the past 10 years, the semiconductor forerunner has contributed significantly to the education in Singapore by providing more than 25 scholarships to students pursuing their undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in IC design at local universities.

Today the company announces to create the MediaTek Endowed Professorship at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). The professorship allows the appointment of a leading expert to work on cutting-edge research in the area of IC design. The first appointment to the chair, Professor Howard Luong from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, will be charged with research and development activities and is already working with NTU researchers and MediaTek on a range of projects, including a pill that serves as a wireless, battery-less camera that can take images from inside the human body.

About MediaTek

Since 1997, MediaTek has been a pioneering fabless semiconductor company and a market leader in cutting-edge systems-on-chip (SoC) for mobile devices, wireless networking, HDTV, DVD and Blu-ray. Our tightly-integrated, innovative chip designs help manufacturers optimize supply chains, reduce the development time of new products, and extend a competitive edge in crowded markets. Through MediaTek Labs, the company is also building a developer hub that will support device creation, application development, and services for the Internet of Things era. By building technologies that help connect individuals to the world around them, MediaTek is enabling people to expand their horizons and more easily achieve their goals. We believe anyone can achieve something amazing. And we believe they can do it every single day. We call this idea Everyday Genius and it drives everything we do. Visit mediatek.com for more information.