By PENG Xin

The automotive sector has recently become the central forum for chip development with new partnerships appearing almost daily. In the latest move, MediaTek, the world's biggest designer of mobile chips, is to join NVIDIA, an American multinational tech company, in developing cockpit solutions for EVs.

MediaTek will use NVIDIA’s GPU chipsets in its automotive SoC (system-on-chips) for better connectivity.

MediaTek, facing declining revenue in the smartphone market, must redirect resources to grow. The collaboration will strengthen MediaTek’s Dimensity Auto platform and driver-assistance systems. The companies plan to release their first joint product by the end of 2025.

MediaTek’s Dimensity Auto competes directly with Qualcomm. MediaTek is behind Qualcomm in cockpit design, hence the collaboration with NVIDIA.

Domestically, many high-end vehicles already use NVIDIA’s Orin chip, and the new Thor chip has attracted plenty of potential customers.

The automotive chip market is growing, with predictions of a US$12 billion market by the end of this year. The autonomous driving chip market is expected to reach US$30 billion by 2030.