MediaTek's board approved a $5 billion discretionary financing framework on Friday, money the company says will fund its move into custom AI chips for data centres. The same earnings call carried the reason for the urgency: mobile chip revenue fell 20 per cent year on year in the June quarter, and chief executive Rick Tsai told investors he expects global smartphone shipments to decline about 15 per cent in units this year.Taiwan's largest chip designer raised its estimate of the 2027 market for custom AI chips to $80 billion, from a previous range of $70 billion to $80 billion, and lifted its own target share of that market to 15 to 20 per cent, from 10 to 15 per cent. Both revisions arrived three months after MediaTek doubled its 2026 AI accelerator revenue goal to $2 billion. The company now expects its data centre AI chip business to clear $2 billion in revenue this year, with the first custom AI chip entering production in the fourth quarter and a second on track for volume production in 2028.About The AuthorAt heart, I am a storyteller drawn to the watershed moments that bend the technology landscape. I braid narrative with data, humanise statistics, and trace the arc from first spark to world-changing impact. My reportage, features and reviews are witty, sardonic, visual and vivid, using anecdote to illuminate rather than eviscerate.