Recently, UK-based media Techradar reported that amid the technical synergy from NVIDIA and MediaTek’s collaborative development of the GB10 superchip, market speculation suggests NVIDIA may consider acquiring MediaTek for $73 billion. Neither company has responded, but the industry widely deems the rumor unfeasible—with core barriers lying in three areas: price, regulation, and strategic value.
As the key outcome of their collaboration, the GB10 superchip integrates MediaTek’s CPU and storage design capabilities with NVIDIA’s Blackwell GPU strengths, successfully combining high-performance GPUs with industry-standard interfaces/protocols into an efficient package. It features a 10-core Arm CPU (10 high-performance Cortex-X925 cores + 10 low-power Cortex-A725 cores), 1 PetaFLOPS GPU computing throughput, and Geekbench performance close to Apple’s M3 chip. Already used in devices like the ASUS Ascend GX10, the chip has strengthened their partnership—but this closeness has not quelled doubts about a merger.
First, the $73 billion offer is far below reasonable expectations. In large semiconductor mergers, acquisition premiums typically reach double-digit percentages or even multiple times the market price. The current valuation lacks a reasonable premium, making it hard to gain approval from MediaTek’s shareholders and management. As Taiwan’s third-largest company by market cap and a local IC design leader, MediaTek’s strategic value far exceeds this offer.
Second, cross-regional regulatory approval is nearly impossible. In 2022, NVIDIA’s $40 billion bid for Arm failed after global regulators rejected it over "monopoly risks"; acquiring MediaTek would face even greater scrutiny. On one hand, MediaTek is a core player in Taiwan’s semiconductor industry—amid rising geopolitics and tech sovereignty awareness, Taiwan authorities will strictly review deals involving key industries, with little chance of approval. On the other hand, MediaTek has deep ties to China’s smartphone industry; Chinese regulators will not allow a key Taiwanese IC design firm to fall into the hands of a U.S. tech giant. Dual regulatory resistance is a critical barrier.
Finally, NVIDIA’s strategic shift reduces the need for a merger. NVIDIA has transitioned from a chipmaker to an AI infrastructure company, expanding its core business from chip design to system solutions and its supply chain to include thermal management and PCB manufacturers. Its ecosystem has low overlap with MediaTek’s IC design business. Acquiring MediaTek would bring limited benefits to NVIDIA’s system-side operations but could divert resources and focus from its AI infrastructure efforts.
ICgoodFind concludes: NVIDIA and MediaTek’s collaboration on the GB10 chip is noteworthy, but the merger rumor lacks a realistic basis. Unreasonable pricing, heavy regulatory resistance, and mismatched strategic value make this idea unlikely to materialize.
