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MediaTek Launches Dimensity 9600 Pro on TSMC 2nm

The chip is built to run large on‑device AI models more efficiently and to push flagship performance and battery life as phones using it arrive this quarter.

Overview

  • MediaTek unveiled the Dimensity 9600 Pro and a companion 9600M, which the company revealed on Tuesday, September 15, and said the 9600 Pro is fabricated on TSMC’s 2nm N2P node while the 9600M targets a wider flagship tier.
  • The 9600 Pro uses a 2+3+3 All Big Core CPU with two C2‑Ultra and six C2‑Pro cores, a larger 34.5MB cache, and MediaTek’s scheduling engine, with the company claiming up to 17% single‑core and 15% multi‑core gains alongside major reductions in multi‑core power draw.
  • MediaTek describes a dual‑NPU Agentic AI architecture—an NPU 1090 for heavy LLM work plus a Super Efficient NPU for always‑on tasks—that it says can run models up to 30 billion parameters on device while improving AI performance per watt.
  • The platform adds first‑wave support for LPDDR6 memory and UFS 5.0 storage, a new Imagiq 1290 ISP and a G2‑Ultra NX GPU with hardware ray tracing, and OEMs including OPPO and vivo have confirmed phones using the 9600 Pro will launch internationally this quarter.
  • All performance and AI figures are MediaTek’s lab or vendor claims and await independent benchmarks and real‑world device tests, and the move to 2nm narrows a manufacturing gap with rivals while carrying potential yield, cost, and availability trade‑offs as MediaTek expands into cloud AI accelerators.