Taiwan’s MediaTek announces world’s first 7nm TV chip

Fabless Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek has introduced a new chip for next-generation TVs — the Pentonic 2000.

MediaTek said the Pentonic 2000 is the first 7nm chip made specifically for TVs and is manufactured using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s 7nm process technology. The new silicon is designed to run 8K resolution with up to 120Hz refresh rates, in addition to support for MEMC, the company said.

On top of supporting common video codecs like HEVC, VP9, AVS3 standards, and AV1, the Pentonic 2000 is also among the first to support the latest Versatile Video Coding for H.266 content.

Where previous TV chips could only provide limited Picture-in-Picture displays, MediaTek’s new chip can handle multiple screens at once without sacrificing picture quality due to the company’s Intelligent View technology.

The AI processing engine can power advanced features like AI-Super Resolution 8K, 2nd Generation AI-Picture Quality Scene Recognition, and 3rd generation AI-Picture Quality Object Recognition, according to MediaTek.

As for connectivity, the Pentonic 2000 supports Wi-Fi 6E and is capable of handling 5G if TV manufacturers want to include it. Next-generation TVs using the new chip should be on the market in 2022.