MediaTek launches first TSMC 2nm flagship chip; Nvidia and Alphabet invest

By Habib Ur Rehman Published: September 15, 2026, 2:48 PM PDT | 3 min read

Tickers: TSM | 2454.TW | NVDA | AAPL | GOOG

MediaTek launched its Dimensity 9600 Pro on September 15, built using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited’s (NYSE: TSM) 2-nanometer technology — marking the first integration of TSMC’s newest node into a flagship mobile chip.

The launch is supported by $3.5 billion in financing from NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) and a broader partnership spanning custom AI chips, PCs, and automotive applications. The smartphone debut signals that TSMC’s 2nm ramp is expanding beyond early adopters into mainstream flagship mobile silicon.

TSMC Gains Volume, Faces Ramp Costs

The Dimensity 9600 Pro leverages TSMC’s most advanced process. MediaTek reports that its neural processor delivers 51% higher LLM prefill performance compared to the previous generation.

• MediaTek taped out a TSMC 2nm design last year.
• First smartphones using the new chips are expected shortly.
• MediaTek has previously supplied flagship customers including Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo.

This broadens the 2nm demand story beyond Apple-class customers and high-performance computing.

Financially, TSMC’s 2nm node contributed 3% of wafer revenue in Q2 2026, with management expecting a steep ramp in the second half of the year.

• Bull case: Strong 2nm adoption supports years of leading-edge pricing and utilization.
• Bear case: The ramp could dilute second-half gross margin by 3 to 4 percentage points, even amid strong demand.

Insider Monkey tracked 249 hedge funds with long positions in TSM in Q2 2026, up from 234 in Q1. Fisher Asset Management increased its shares by 2%.

Nvidia Buys a Seat at MediaTek’s Table

On August 31, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) invested $3.5 billion in MediaTek convertible bonds and expanded a partnership that will connect MediaTek custom XPUs to Nvidia’s NVLink Fusion rack-scale systems.

• Alphabet also participated in MediaTek’s $3.9 billion bond sale.
• Reuters reported that MediaTek’s first accelerator for a major U.S. cloud customer is due for mass production in late 2026.

For Nvidia, this strategy turns custom silicon from a substitute into part of its platform. If hyperscalers build more in-house accelerators, NVLink Fusion allows Nvidia to monetize the surrounding rack architecture and ecosystem.

Risk: MediaTek is becoming a more credible custom-chip supplier, and custom accelerators could take workloads that might otherwise run on Nvidia GPUs.

Insider Monkey’s database showed 285 hedge funds with reportable NVDA longs in Q2, up from 275 in Q1. Fisher Asset Management raised its position by 3%. As of August 31, 298.30 million Nvidia shares were short — 1.29% of float, with 2.1 days to cover.

The Cleaner Bet: TSMC

The more straightforward investment case may be TSMC, which can manufacture both GPU and custom-silicon winners. Nvidia’s MediaTek investment is strategically smart, but it partly hedges a competitive shift rather than eliminating it.

Disclaimer: While we acknowledge the potential of TSM and NVDA as investments, we believe certain other AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. For more information, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

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