Nvidia has wrapped its annual GTC conference in San Jose with a slew of new AI products but the company's market performance has been less than stellar. Meanwhile, other firms have been making their own progress on AI chips, including Google, which is reportedly preparing to work with Taiwan's MediaTek on its next generation. TaiwanPlus spoke with Washington-based tech competition analyst Ray Wang to learn more.
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00:00We're now at least three years into this AI boom, which has made stocks like Nvidia's
00:05among the hottest on the U.S. market.
00:08We just saw Nvidia's stock slip after its conference keynote.
00:13Where are we now in terms of investor confidence in the sector?
00:17There's a lot of economic uncertainties that are mostly caused by tariffs.
00:22People are still very closely paying attention on what's the Fed going to do, what's the
00:27just broader macroeconomics.
00:29I think that's the number one thing, because you create a lot of uncertainty that's sort
00:33of like undermine the market confidence.
00:36And the second thing, a more analyst like us, like the concern we are seeing from the
00:41investors is like, hey, like why there's orders cut on the co-ops for TSMC, why there's a
00:47cut for the orders of GPUs, right?
00:50People will start like speculating, well, like is it this AI demand will continue to
00:53moving forward?
00:54We're seeing other giants invest in their AI chips.
00:58Google is reportedly breaking away from working exclusively with Broadcom on its AI chips
01:03and is preparing to work with Taiwan's MediaTek on its next generation.
01:09What do you make of this strategy?
01:11So MediaTek, this is a company, they design chips for not just smartphones, but also for
01:16automotive, but also for AIoT and other network technology.
01:21The cooperation with Google, it's actually been speculated for quite a while in the market.
01:27Part of that, I think Google just thinking about like, oh, like, OK, we work with Broadcom,
01:32we work very well, we have great partnership, but we also want sort of like alternative
01:37suppliers because you don't want to have just one supplier because it will be hard to negotiate
01:42a price.
01:43Right.
01:44MediaTek is a very interesting company.
01:45They are the company, the best IC design company based in Taiwan.
01:49But if you look at their revenue portfolio by region, I think 80 to 90 percent, it's
01:54actually from China.
01:55So a big part of that is from the smartphone, right?
01:58They're providing chips to companies like Vivo, OPPO, like Xiaomi, those phones like
02:04Taiwanese typically don't use, but it's actually they have tons of users in China.
02:10Well, given their sizable customer base in China, what does the U.S.'s ongoing tech competition
02:16with China mean for MediaTek and its shift towards the AI business, especially now with
02:22Trump back in office?
02:24The U.S. is actually worried more when it comes to like MediaTek designing the chips,
02:31because think about that, like imagine MediaTek, if, I mean, if they design AI chips for China,
02:38right?
02:39And they are one of the best IC design company.
02:42So if that's the case, I think that's the thing the U.S. would be have extreme concern.
02:48And right now they just design the chips for the normal smartphone.
02:51So it's not, I think for now, I don't see my major risk for MediaTek.
02:55And I'm sure the company, to my understanding, they have been paying very close attention
03:01on a regulatory change from the White House or Department of Commerce in Washington.