Bernstein | MediaTek (2454.TT): NVIDIA and Google Become Convertible Holders; Reference Designs to Drive ASIC Adoption Alongside GPUs

Bernstein reads MediaTek's (2454.TT) expanded NVIDIA partnership and US$3.9bn offshore convertible bond—US$3.5bn placed with NVIDIA, the remainder with Google (up to US$0.4bn) and global institutions—as strategically positioning MediaTek as a bridge between NVIDIA and ASICs. Cooperation extends beyond PCs and autos to the NVLink Fusion platform (chiplets, optical or electrical interconnects, NVHBM base dies), with pre-built, pre-qualified, system-validated reference designs letting ASIC customers scale quickly from chip to full rack while interoperating with NVIDIA GPUs—especially attractive to smaller, early-stage ASIC clients. Financial benefits are not yet quantified; the business model is still evolving, and revenue timing may be 2028 or later (the release cites NVIDIA's Rosa CPU). On vendor-financing concerns, Bernstein contrasts Marvell's free warrants to Google: Google pays cash, the conversion price is 15% above the prior close, there is no volume linkage, and even Google's full conversion would equal only ~0.2% of shares. The CB is part of a previously announced US$5bn supply-security budget (cash ~US$6bn); Google buys HBM directly. Bernstein keeps Outperform with a NT$4,380 one-year target; the August 31 close was NT$3,925, with 2026E/2027E P/E of 56.5x/23.0x and 157.5% twelve-month relative performance.