MediaTek takes Qualcomm’s leading position in largest SoC market

In the first quarter of 2021, China’s smartphone app processor shipments will remain the same as in the previous quarter, according to the latest forecast by Taiwanese research firm Digitimes Research.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Chinese manufacturers alone shipped about 211.6 million SoCs]. Most of these SoCs come from two manufacturers: MediaTek and Qualcomm.

MediaTek is the largest supplier to the Chinese smartphone SoC market in the fourth quarter of 2020. The Taiwanese chip maker accounts for 42.5% of the market. Qualcomm came in second with a score of 41.5%. The third place was taken by Huawei HiSilicon (Kirin) with 9.5% of the market.

38.4% of SoCs are manufactured using a 12nm manufacturing process. Digitimes Research predicts that in the first quarter of 2021, the total share of mobile platforms that are manufactured using 6-, 7- and 8nm process technology will exceed the share of 12nm platforms.

Orders were expected to drop when Huawei faced the ban, but this is not the case. Brands like Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo are effectively occupying the market segments that Huawei is vacating. This is the reason for the increase in shipments year on year.

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