Powerful Dimensity 9400 AP could be equipped with 30 billion transistors

Chip designer MediaTek struck gold with the Dimensity 9300 application processor (AP) as the powerful chipset features four Cortex-X4 performance cores with a clock speed of up to 3.25GHz, and four Cortex-A720 efficiency-performance cores running up to 2.0GHz. Note the absence of any low-power efficiency cores such as the Cortex-A520. Even though some worried about overheating, the Dimensity 9300 AP has been powering the Vivo X100 series.

Vivo has obviously been happy about how the Dimensity 9300 chipset performed. Back in March, the phone manufacturer signed a deal with MediaTek to have the upcoming Dimensity 9400 SoC power some of its next-gen high-end smartphones. And now, after reportedly taking in over $1 billion in revenue from the Dimensity 9300 and releasing the AI-enhanced Dimensity 9300+, Mediatek is just a couple of months away from launching the Dimensity 9400 AP.

The new chipset will also feature a unique configuration reportedly consisting of one Cortex-X5 super CPU core running up to 3.4GHz, three Cortex-X4 super CPU cores with a clock speed as high as 2.96GHz, and four Cortex-A720 efficiency-performance CPU cores running as fast as 2.27GHz. Earlier this year there had been concern that the Cortex-X5 was consuming high level of power at higher clock speeds resulting in lower multi-core benchmark scores.

MediaTek’s CEO, Rick Tsai says that he expects the Dimensity 9400 to help the company expand its revenues by 50% next year as the chipset's use of ARM's 'BlackHawk' CPU architecture allows the AP to go without having any low-power efficiency cores. Built on TSMC's second-generation 3nm process node (N3E), it will be the biggest chipset built for a smartphone at 150mm2. It also will reportedly carry as many as 30 billion transistors. To put that figure in context, the A17 Pro AP running the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max is equipped with 19 billion transistors.

The increased size of the die and the huge number of transistors could give the chip an advantage over rival processors like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 in areas such as AI. The Dimensity 9400 SoC also gives phone manufacturers a cheaper alternative to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 which is expected to be the recipient of a huge price hike. 

MediaTek is the world's largest supplier of application processors to smartphone manufacturers. Without owning any fabs, it is one of TSMC's largest customers.