MediaTek sets a $5B budget for AI chips

MediaTek’s board approved a $5 billion discretionary financing budget to secure supply-chain capacity and expand from AI ASICs into full systems and platforms. In its second-quarter earnings remarks, the chipmaker said its first accelerator for a major US cloud provider enters production in the fourth quarter and should help push 2026 data-center revenue above $2 billion. For operators tracking custom silicon’s challenge to Nvidia, the budget is another signal that accelerator competition now requires balance-sheet control over packaging, memory, and systems—not merely a viable chip design.