MediaTek, the company that used to be viewed as the “budget Qualcomm,” has been steadily gaining in popularity and reputation. The company’s Dimensity 9000 series has shown that it has what it takes to catch up to Qualcomm. Unfortunately, MediaTek could see its progress slowed or halted as reports suggest it could be hit the hardest during the memory crisis.
MediaTek could be hit hardest by memory crisis
For those who haven’t heard, the tech space is experiencing a memory crisis. The prices of RAM, HDDs, and SSDs have been steadily falling over the years. Unfortunately, the AI boom has resulted in memory makers shifting their priorities. Instead of focusing on consumer-grade memory, many of them are turning to HBMs designed for AI datacenters.
This means that not only is there going to be a shortage in memory for consumer products, but prices are also expected to rise. In fact, many are already seeing that in action. Now, according to reports, some believe that MediaTek could be hit the hardest in this memory crisis.
This is because based on estimates, more than 50% of MediaTek’s revenue comes from shipments of its chipsets. This means that MediaTek relies extremely heavily on shipments to make money. If companies were to reduce their orders, they would be hit pretty hard.
But what about Qualcomm?
Both MediaTek and Qualcomm, for all intents and purposes, compete in the same space. Both companies sell chipsets to phone makers. However, Qualcomm has the advantage of being more popular. It also helps that Qualcomm licenses its technology in the form of patents to other companies, like Apple.
This means that even if Qualcomm were to take a hit due to the memory crisis, it still has its patents and licensing deals to fall back on. Let’s not forget that for 2026, Qualcomm could be adopting a dual chipset strategy. The company typically releases one flagship chipset a year. However, this year the company is rumored to launch two versions. One will be the base flagship model, and the other will be a “Pro” version. This gives Qualcomm and its customers more choices.
We’re not sure what kind of strategy MediaTek has planned to ride out the memory crisis. However, we can only hope that it’s a good one. According to estimates, this memory shortage is expected to last for the next few years.
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