MediaTek, a key Qualcomm rival in cellular chip markets overseas, plans to open an office in San Diego as it seeks to raise its profile beyond Asia.
The Taiwan semiconductor firm — which already employs 300 workers at U.S. locations in San Jose, Boston and Austin, Texas — expects to open an office in Sorrento Valley by June 1.
“Our plans are to grow by 150 people in the U.S. this year,” said Kristin Taylor, MediaTek’s vice president of U.S. corporate marketing who spent 13 years at Qualcomm. “We haven’t quite decided how we are going to spread that around and who will be sitting in San Diego, but it will be good-sized team.”
The San Diego office will have engineering, marketing and business development workers.
“The main goal is to come out of this stigma of being seen as a business focused solely on Asia and really becoming a global business,” Taylor said. “The United States represents an important market for the company, and San Diego was a good location for us in order to serve our technology and carrier partners.”
According to industry research firm Strategy Analytics, Qualcomm, Apple, MediaTek and Samsung held the top four spots in the smartphone application processor market in third quarter of last year, the latest figures available.
Qualcomm had 53 percent share of revenue, followed by Apple with 18 percent and MediaTek with 10 percent. The global smartphone applications processor market grew 31 percent to reach $4.9 billion in third quarter, Strategy Analytics said.
MediaTek is targeting mid-priced phones — a market that the company believes will grow as handset subsidies fall in the United States and as more people in developing countries switch from talk-and-text phones to smartphones.
MediaTek isn’t the only Qualcomm competitor to open offices in San Diego to tap the region’s wireless expertise. In 2012, Intel established a branch in Sabre Springs that’s part of its Mobile and Communications Group. Intel hasn’t revealed how many workers it employs locally.
Last year, MediaTek’s revenue grew 36 percent from the previous year to $5.7 billion. It employs about 10,000 workers worldwide. Besides smartphones, it also makes chips for tablets, digital televisions, set-top boxes, Wi-Fi routers and Bluetooth devices.
The Taiwan semiconductor firm — which already employs 300 workers at U.S. locations in San Jose, Boston and Austin, Texas — expects to open an office in Sorrento Valley by June 1.
“Our plans are to grow by 150 people in the U.S. this year,” said Kristin Taylor, MediaTek’s vice president of U.S. corporate marketing who spent 13 years at Qualcomm. “We haven’t quite decided how we are going to spread that around and who will be sitting in San Diego, but it will be good-sized team.”
The San Diego office will have engineering, marketing and business development workers.
“The main goal is to come out of this stigma of being seen as a business focused solely on Asia and really becoming a global business,” Taylor said. “The United States represents an important market for the company, and San Diego was a good location for us in order to serve our technology and carrier partners.”
According to industry research firm Strategy Analytics, Qualcomm, Apple, MediaTek and Samsung held the top four spots in the smartphone application processor market in third quarter of last year, the latest figures available.
Qualcomm had 53 percent share of revenue, followed by Apple with 18 percent and MediaTek with 10 percent. The global smartphone applications processor market grew 31 percent to reach $4.9 billion in third quarter, Strategy Analytics said.
MediaTek is targeting mid-priced phones — a market that the company believes will grow as handset subsidies fall in the United States and as more people in developing countries switch from talk-and-text phones to smartphones.
MediaTek isn’t the only Qualcomm competitor to open offices in San Diego to tap the region’s wireless expertise. In 2012, Intel established a branch in Sabre Springs that’s part of its Mobile and Communications Group. Intel hasn’t revealed how many workers it employs locally.
Last year, MediaTek’s revenue grew 36 percent from the previous year to $5.7 billion. It employs about 10,000 workers worldwide. Besides smartphones, it also makes chips for tablets, digital televisions, set-top boxes, Wi-Fi routers and Bluetooth devices.
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