China’s Xiaomi will invest at least $6.9 billion over the next decade to develop its own semiconductor chips, the company announced Monday.
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Samsung Galaxy S25 FE might favor power over price
The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is expected to launch later this year, offering flagship-level performance and features at a more affordable price. While it’s long been expected to launch with the Exynos 2400e chip, a new report suggests Samsung might go with the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 instead, citing production issues with Samsung Foundry.
The report comes from NotebookCheck’s Anil Ganti via one of their internal sources. According to the source, Samsung still intends to launch the Galaxy S25 FE with the Exynos 2400e, but the company has a backup plan in case production issues arise, and that’s the Dimensity 9400. While Samsung has previously used Mediatek chips in the Galaxy Tab S10 lineup, it poses several notable downsides versus the Exynos.
Cost is first and foremost. The Dimensity 9400 is a more powerful chip, but it’s also more expensive due to both its specs and the need to purchase it from MediaTek. The Exynos 2400e would allow Samsung to produce the needed silicon in-house and bring revenue to Samsung Foundry.
Joe Maring / Digital Trends In the Galaxy S24 generation, the Galaxy S24 FE was the only handset receiving Exynos 2400e chips. Some rumors suggest the yields could be split between the Galaxy S25 FE and the Galaxy Z Flip FE, and that’s where the concern lies. Earlier this year, reports emerged that Samsung Foundry would cut its chip production by 50 percent to address quality concerns, and last year it delayed production of 2nm chips. Samsung Foundry has suffered numerous setbacks recently, leaving fans concerned that it won’t be able to meet demand.
The Galaxy S25 FE is meant to be a more affordable phone, and the chip plays a big role in that. Using an Exynos chip allows Samsung to keep costs lower. If Samsung has to use the Dimensity 9400 instead, it would drive up not only production costs, but potentially the final price of the phone.
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Nvidia and MediaTek’s Arm chip could mean cheaper AI laptops
Nvidia and MediaTek are reportedly teaming up to launch a new Arm-based system-on-chip (SoC) aimed at AI-capable Windows PCs. Expected to debut at Computex 2025, the collaboration could introduce a new contender in the AI PC market. The chip may offer an alternative to existing solutions from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series, Intel’s Core Ultra lineup, and AMD’s Ryzen AI chips.
Notably, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and MediaTek’s Rick Tsai are scheduled to deliver back-to-back keynotes at Computex on May 19 and 20, respectively. Rumors suggest that companies will announce a new processor lineup that combines MediaTek’s Arm CPUs with Nvidia’s Blackwell GPUs, forming a platform aimed at compact, AI-focused PCs.
According to German outlet Heise Online, Nvidia and MediaTek are preparing two Arm-based chips, the N1 and N1X, with MediaTek providing the CPU and Nvidia supplying the GPU. These chips are expected to be tied to the GB10 platform, though a scaled-down CPU configuration is possible, reportedly featuring 20 cores (10 Cortex-X925 and 10 Cortex-A725).
Currently, Windows-on-Arm laptops rely exclusively on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors, which are mostly limited to premium, mobility-focused devices. Thanks to Nvidia’s extensive GPU driver support, an area where Qualcomm’s Adreno has struggled, the new chips could appeal to gamers. On the other hand, MediaTek could launch a more affordable variant with a smaller Nvidia GPU, opening the door for budget-friendly Arm-based laptops.
While Nvidia and MediaTek may unveil their new Arm-based chip at Computex, actual laptops and desktops featuring the processor may not hit the market for some time. A report from SemiAccurate suggests that technical issues could delay the chips’ completion, possibly pushing device launches into 2026.
Meanwhile, MediaTek has reportedly secured significant packaging capacity, likely for the new processors, using FCBGA (Flip Chip Ball Grid Array) technology, which enables the CPU and GPU to be combined before being installed in notebooks. According to Digitimes, the unusually large order was placed around the end of last year, though it’s unclear if the potential delays were already anticipated.
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Your next phone could have a 10km Bluetooth connection
Bluetooth connections tend to have a somewhat limited range, often topping out around 33 feet. MediaTek has just announced the Dimensity 9400 Plus, a brand-new chipset that promises to blow that number out of the park and support distances up to 10 kilometers (about 6.2 miles). The original Dimensity 9400 could deliver distances of 1.5 kilometers, so this is a huge jump — but it’s not quite as clear-cut as it sounds.
The estimated distance is for phone-to-phone direct Bluetooth connections, which means your wireless earbuds won’t suddenly gain a huge bump in quality over distance. The key phrasing is found on MediaTek’s website: “The Dimensity 9400+ extends phone-to-phone Bluetooth connections up to 10km when in line-of-sight, increasing over 6.6X further than the Dimensity 9400. These ultra-long reach direct connections don’t require cellular mobile services, saving data, and improving privacy.”
If line-of-sight is a requirement, then your actual Bluetooth connective distance might see a slight increase, but nowhere near 10 kilometers. That would require something like an airport runway. The actual real-world use cases are somewhat limited, but any increase in connective distance is always a perk. Plus, it could open the door to some interesting AirDrop pranks.
Screenshot Image used with permission by copyright holder On top of better Bluetooth, the Dimesnity 9400 Plus also comes with upgrades to its CPU, AI performance, and more. It has a 12-core GPU for nearly PC-level gaming visuals, improved HDR video, and much more. It also supports speeds up to 3.73GHz, larger Wi-Fi ranges, and Wi-Fi 7.
Now bear in mind, this is just an SoC. Companies will need to choose to use it for users to see any of the benefits, but the fact that the technology exists — and is such a huge leap forward — is promising. The Dimensity 9400 Plus looks like a serious competitor to the more popular Snapdragon 8 Elite, and it could be a major boon to the next generation of smartphones.
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MediaTek’s Kompanio Ultra chip pits Chromebooks against Copilot PCs
MediaTek has today launched a new silicon for Chrome OS devices, one that puts it roughly in the same performance league as the Copilot+ PCs hawked by Windows ecosystem players. The latest from MediaTek is the Kompanio Ultra, a top-of-the-line processor that takes an all-big-core approach to deliver flagship performance.
The big bet behind all that firepower? AI, of course. To that end, the chip is touted to deliver 50 TOPS of AI processing power. For perspective, Qualcomm’s top-end Snapdragon X Elite silicon maxes out at 45 TOPS, and similar is the baseline that Microsoft has set for processors supplied by AMD and Intel for Copilot+ machines.
The cores at play here follow the newest Armv9 CPU architecture, arranged in a tri-cluster format. Leading the charge is a prime Cortex-X925 core with a peak frequency of 3.62GHz. Tagging alongside are a trio of Cortex-X4 cores and four Arm Cortex-A720 cores.
All the firepower in the world
MediaTek In terms of standout capabilities compared to other Kompanio processors in the 8xx and 5xx series, the Ultra (9xx series) silicon enables on-device AI processing. Think of it as the same approach as the one Google deploys for Gemini Nano to run locally on the Pixel smartphones.
The net benefit is faster output at tasks like image generation, less latency, and data security. MediaTek touts capabilities such as on-device image and video generation, support for small and large language models (SLM and LLMs), and improved resource allocation for AI tasks, thanks to an improved AI accelerator chip.
It’s the first MediaTek Kompanio series silicon that can support dual 4K external monitors. It also enables support for fast LPDDR5 memory with a peak bandwidth of 8,533 Mbps and the UFS 4.1 storage standard.
Going all-in for Chrome OS
Is Chrome OS finally ready for the big league? Luke Larsen / Digital Trends On the graphics front, Arm’s Immortalis-G925 MC11 runs the show, opening the doors for features such as 10-bit 4K 60fps video encoding and decoding. Based on TSMC’s second-gen 3-nanometer process node, the GPU aboard the Kompanio Ultra silicon supports ray-traced visuals for gaming.
There’s also a dedicated Hi-Fi Audio DSP for high-res audio output and enabling support for tricks like low-power, always-on standby mode for summoning voice assistants. On the connectivity front, it again goes for summit by embracing WiFi-7 (up to 7.3Gbps) and Bluetooth 6.0 standard.
MediaTek says the first Chrome OS devices powered by the Kompanio Ultra processor will hit the shelves in the coming months. It would be interesting to see if they can undercut Copilot+ PCs in the lower-end segment and push Gemini-powered Chromebooks into the AI computing mainstream.
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These are China’s top 10 chip companies
China’s chip companies have been on the rise in recent years — even before the country came under tough U.S. export controls, limiting its access to advanced artificial intelligence chips from firms such as Nvidia.