Does MediaTek Have an Identity Crisis?

Despite its prominence as a global semiconductor company, MediaTek remains relatively unknown among consumers. While the company has quietly become a significant force in the semiconductor space, it does not possess a brand that rolls off the tongue of most consumers.

As with any large company in a rapidly evolving industry, the question of an “identity crisis” can be multifaceted, involving public perception, market positioning, and internal strategy. This discussion explores whether MediaTek is experiencing such a crisis and, if so, what the implications might be.

MediaTek’s History

Founded 27 years ago and headquartered in Taiwan, MediaTek initially focused on producing chips for home entertainment products and optical storage solutions. Over time, the company expanded into the mobile phone market, a shift that significantly increased its global footprint and prominence.

MediaTek has predominantly focused its strategy on offering cost-effective solutions for mid-range and budget devices, which helped it gain substantial market share in emerging markets across Asia and Africa.

In contrast, competitors like Qualcomm have traditionally dominated the high-end smartphone market, particularly in Western countries. This divergence in market focus is crucial to understanding MediaTek’s brand identity, which the public often views as a more affordable, less performance-oriented alternative to Qualcomm.

Alleged Identity Crisis

The notion of MediaTek experiencing an identity crisis stems from several factors. Recently, the company has made significant efforts to challenge Qualcomm in the high-end smartphone market, notably with its Dimensity sub-brand, which offers competitive performance and features like 5G connectivity.

This move has indeed expanded MediaTek’s global market share. The company maintains more than 40% of the Android market in North America and Europe and a 40%- 50% TAM (total addressable market) share of the Latin America and Pacific Rim markets.

The company also points out that it has more than 30% TAM share in the ruthlessly competitive market in China. MediaTek could not realize accomplishments like this with purely lower-cost, lower-performance solutions.

Nonetheless, MediaTek suffers from public perception and branding challenges. The company has historically been less vocal about its achievements and innovations than Qualcomm, which has a robust marketing strategy that includes significant advertising spending and collaborations with high-profile brands and carriers. This relative silence has contributed to MediaTek’s weaker, or at least more ambiguous, brand identity.

Despite significant advancements, competitive products, and technological innovations that should enhance its industry stature, MediaTek has sometimes struggled to shake off its image as a budget chipset manufacturer. This reputation affects its ability to compete in the premium chipmaker segment, where branding and consumer perception play crucial roles.

There’s also the issue of geographical market dynamics. MediaTek’s stronger presence in emerging markets than established ones like the U.S. and Europe has further complicated its identity. Although it is a leader in several regions, the company has not gotten the respect it deserves.

How MediaTek Is Trying To Course-Correct

To address its identity issues, MediaTek hasn’t stood still and has been making several strategic moves. The company has increased investment in its marketing and branding initiatives to elevate its brand perception globally. For example, MediaTek’s “Incredible Inside” campaign is a worthy effort to associate MediaTek-powered devices with high quality and innovation.

Going one step further, MediaTek is collaborating with renowned brands and companies that can help the company enhance its reputation. In addition, partnerships, such as those with Intel for 5G laptop modems, have helped position MediaTek as an innovative and versatile chipmaker.

The company has also realized that focusing on cutting-edge technology is the only way to upgrade its brand image. Markets like IoT, automotive, data centers, Chromebooks, smart TVs — and even the smartphone space, which remains a huge market from a volume standpoint despite its slow growth — demand differentiating solutions, particularly AI capabilities that create new and compelling usage models.

These actions could help redefine MediaTek’s brand as a leading innovator across various tech sectors, not just mobile phones.

AI a Key Factor in MediaTek’s Future Growth

Last week in Arizona, MediaTek briefed the analyst community at an event that focused on the company’s ongoing efforts to fine-tune its appeal in multiple end markets to allow it to optimize its presence in the mobile, smart edge, and power IC markets that have respective CAGR growth of 5.3%, 6.8% and 6.3% in a TAM that MediaTek believes will be approximately $180 billion by 2028.

At the conference, MediaTek dedicated considerable attention to the untapped potential that generative AI will drive over the next ten years. The company sees gen AI as the impetus for meaningful growth across its portfolio of products — which translates to more semiconductor content per device.

Moreover, MediaTek believes it has the technology attributes to bring gen AI to the edge and push innovation in a differentiated manner to its customers.

While these megatrends imply a bright future for MediaTek, the company must dedicate more marketing resources to message its view on compelling usage models.

MediaTek’s Platform Solutions

With seven distinct major sub-brands that span the gamut from smartphones, automotive, Wi-Fi, Chromebooks, smart TVs, IoT, and even industrial applications, MediaTek must expand its marketing spend to compete with the likes of Qualcomm and others who have made branding and go-to-market initiatives a priority.

(Image courtesy of MediaTek)

While MediaTek does face challenges in terms of market perception and branding, particularly as it attempts to transition into higher-end markets, labeling these challenges as an “identity crisis” might be an overstatement. Instead, MediaTek is in a phase of identity evolution, both necessary and inevitable, as it seeks to diversify its offerings and compete globally across different segments.

MediaTek Must Assert Its Thought Leadership Marketing Potential

The company’s ability to navigate this evolution successfully will depend on its strategic marketing, partnerships, and technological innovation choices. As MediaTek redefines itself, it may overcome the perception hurdles and emerge more potent, with a more distinct and respected identity within the global semiconductor industry.

For MediaTek to position itself as a thought leader in AI, it must confidently articulate usage models at a highly detailed level. While the company has strong executive leadership and has demonstrated impressive business results, there is noticeable hesitation at analyst events to present detailed applications. This reluctance may stem from a concern that these models might not fully align with its customers’ perspectives.

Embracing a role as a thought leader involves guiding the industry with innovative ideas and frameworks, even if they initially diverge from customer expectations. OEMs will respect MediaTek’s input on these usage models, even if they choose to implement them differently. By defining clear, visionary strategies, MediaTek can build and enhance its brand leadership persona and drive the adoption of its solutions, fostering alignment over time.

Admittedly, this kind of messaging leadership involves risk. In the final analysis, MediaTek must proactively increase its marketing investment and refine its messaging on usage models to assert control over its market perception, differentiate its offerings, and clearly communicate the unique benefits of its solutions so that it remains competitive and, most importantly, relevant in the rapidly evolving tech industry.