Nvidia Bets $3.5 Billion on MediaTek to Anchor Custom AI Chips in Its Ecosystem
Nvidia invests $3.5 billion in Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek as part of a strategic deal that lets MediaTek design custom chips for AI companies and hyperscalers using Nvidia's technology. The partnership gives MediaTek access to Nvidia's NVLink Fusion ecosystem, allowing custom chips — even non-Nvidia ones — to plug directly into Nvidia-based data centers and communicate rapidly through NVLink.
The deal arrives as major cloud providers and AI labs like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic pour money into their own chips to reduce reliance on Nvidia's GPUs. Rather than fight the custom silicon trend, Nvidia embraces it: by letting partners build tailored chips that slot into its rack-scale architecture, Nvidia cedes ground on chips while remaining the dominant scaffolding of AI data centers. "Every cloud, every model builder is deploying our platform in some shape, form, or fashion," says Dion Harris, Nvidia's senior director of HPC and AI hyperscaler infrastructure solutions.
The partnership highlights the circular nature of Nvidia's financing strategy, with investments frequently flowing back into its own ecosystem. Last week, Nvidia announced a similar arrangement with Amazon Web Services, which plans to deploy 2 million additional Nvidia GPUs and integrate NVLink Fusion, though without a direct investment. For MediaTek, the deal boosts its custom data center ASIC business, while Nvidia ensures it comes along for the ride wherever those chips end up.