The innovations in the mobile chipset market have been extraordinary as the players in this domain have worked very aggressively towards bringing the best consumer experience. The market players are harnessing the next-gen technologies to speed-up the development of performance-oriented chipsets. Moreover, the augment of 5G has been a key growth enabler for the chipset manufacturers. They are scaling up the R&D centers to focus on delivering premium smartphone experience to users. Furthermore, such players are diversifying their approach to make chipsets for Chromebooks, wearables, and automotive products. MediaTek is one the leading semiconductor company catering to the global market with a vision to ensure incredible experience for their users. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal recently spoke to Rituparna Mandal, General Manager, MediaTek Bangalore. Rituparna shared crucial insights about the current market landscape, state of their R&D centers and future expansion plans. Read below the excerpts:
Rajeev: What major change have you noticed among Tech people working at R&D centres in the post COVID-19 world?
Rituparna: In this time of global crisis, it becomes difficult for companies to efficiently manage their workforce and maintain productivity. MediaTek, the leading fabless semiconductor company, on a global scale, is handling this situation in a well-planned manner and taking initiatives to keep the positive spirit alive. Even as our solutions became imperative in the new normal, MediaTek also faced some challenges due to Covid-19. As ours is a technology-intensive company, and the Bangalore team is involved in extensive Research and Development work for innovative chipsets, collaboration within and across teams, as well as lab work, was a challenge due to the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown. We were working on several critical and aggressive projects when the lockdown was announced so teams had to evolve quickly and adapt to the new working scenario.
While we did have difficulties in managing coordination and research in the initial days of the lockdown, the team managed to innovate and ensure quick resolutions for all ensuing issues. We have seen tremendous productivity across projects, driven by our business strategy which was focused on diversification. As MediaTek looked to diversify its portfolio during the pandemic, several of our project deadlines were pulled in and we had to innovate to complete the tasks on time. We can safely state that the lockdown has, therefore, affected our productivity positively during work from home. I firmly believe that when we fully empower employees, give them flexibility to manage their health and safety, and continue to have well defined outputs and milestones, employees will always step up and deliver to their best potential and that is exactly what we have seen at the site. Similarly, I believe that the tech workforce, across industries, has stepped up to meet the challenges and ensured that the world is, at large, better prepared to respond to the disruptions in the post-COVID world.
Rajeev: How are you working towards upgrading your Dimensity family? Where do you find the Dimensity chipsets family in the race towards 5G?
Rituparna: When we envisioned the future of connectivity, 5G was always at the forefront for MediaTek and, right from our first Dimensity SoC, launched in 2019, we have strived to create optimal chips to power innovative 5G smartphones. At MediaTek, we always listen to our customers and, nowadays, consumers look for a wholesome and incredible user experience. MediaTek’s Dimensity family of high-performance smartphone chipsets enables global brands to cater to this requirement and we have consistently upgraded the chipset family to reflect the evolving needs of our customers. From superlative image quality to high velocity gaming and uninterrupted connectivity, our upgraded chips ensure that customers only get the best experience when they invest in a MediaTek-powered 5G smartphone.
Our ‘Incredible In Incredible Out’ philosophy encapsulates bold, progressive and innovative thinking, along with brilliant technology, resulting in a family of 5G chips designed for carriers, device makers and consumers. Our constant upgrades have also ensured that the Dimensity 5G family powers not only the highest-end smartphones but also brings flagship 5G technology to the mass market so that everyone can experience these transformative capabilities. With a wide range of 5G chips powering different smartphone segments, across the globe, we believe that MediaTek Dimensity is at the forefront of the 5G race. Combining speed and innovation to power the world’s most capable 5G devices, Dimensity represents a step towards a new era of mobility – the fifth dimension.
Rajeev: Please tell us about the vision behind developing Kompanio SoCs for Chromebook. How do these SoCs transform the Chromebook experience for customers?
Rituparna: MediaTek is a semiconductor company which believes in diversification. We are a frontrunner in various segments, including smart home appliances to Chromebooks, wearables, and automotive products. While developing the MediaTek Kompanio platform, our vision was to ensure that users can count on incredible mobile computing experiences. Aimed at transforming customers’ Chromebook experience, the Kompanio 900 delivers robust computing power, outstanding audio and video multimedia features, smooth gaming capabilities and support for the latest 5G and wireless features. Keeping with our strong history of developing innovative, always connected and highly efficient smartphone and tablet platforms for Android OS, MediaTek has created a range of similarly advanced SoCs for Chromebooks, since 2016. Chromebooks free users from typical mobile computing limitations, with a blend of Cloud and edge experiences ideal for anywhere computing, whether it’s work, education, video conferencing, social, shopping, streaming entertainment and more.
Rajeev: How is MediaTek’s Bangalore R&D center scaling up its efficiency and capacity to develop next-gen technologies?
Rituparna: MediaTek’s Bangalore R&D centre, along with the facility in Noida, forms the base of our efficient operations in India and on the global platform. Both these centres are constantly working towards upgrading our technologies and creating innovations to differentiate us from other players. Eyeing strong growth and expansion in the Indian ecosystem, and focusing on next-gen technologies, MediaTek’s Bangalore R&D centre is geared up to scale its efficiency and capacity in a significant manner. India is an important market for MediaTek, and we have reiterated our commitment and support to the government's 'Make in India' programme by investing in local Indian talent and scaling capabilities to drive innovation for India and global markets. We plan to continue scaling up this year and are hiring aggressively from Indian campuses to strengthen our research and product design capabilities across Bangalore and Noida.
Rajeev: What are your plans to boost your R&D footprints across India in light of focus on future technologies?
Rituparna: MediaTek plans to further strengthen its India R&D footprint by enabling the smart device ecosystem through OEM collaborations in technologies like 5G, IoT and Wi-Fi routers. MediaTek has also reiterated its commitment to spur innovation in the smart devices segment across a wide range of products such as Chromebooks, Smart TVs, and Voice Assistant Devices (VAD). We are ambitiously pursuing the vision of creating incredible technologies and delivering exceptional 5G solutions to everyone. We have strengthened our R&D in India to further advance our product portfolio. Our continued efforts towards boosting the R&D footprint in India has brought several leading OEM brands on board, and we are enabling them to deliver on the commitment of incredible experiences across device categories. MediaTek has identified a great opportunity in the Indian smart devices segment and has tailored its products to address the emerging demands from digitally empowered customers here, opening a new world of opportunities for both industry players and intrepid customers.
Rajeev: What are the key challenges for you in the R&D industry? How are you prepared to eliminate such challenges and accelerate your growth?
Rituparna: One of the major issues we faced recently was the disruption in supply chains due to worldwide lockdowns. The incident led to a radical shortage of devices and caused stock availability issues, as the demand for devices boomed due to the pandemic and ensuing work from home. This forced us to quicken the pace of our R&D efforts and increase the speed of our go to market channel even as we grappled with WFH challenges. Other than this issue, the R&D industry has, over the last year, also faced challenges such as regulatory barriers and natural disasters. However, the biggest challenge is to always be at the forefront of technological innovation, and to not only survive, but thrive during crises. We have always focused on innovation and diversification as the means to overcome these challenges and our recent hiring has also been a step in this direction.
