A new partnership between Purdue University and Taiwanese semiconductor giant MediaTek suggests Indiana is on the right track as it begins a push to make the state a global magnet for semiconductor research and manufacturing.

MediaTek announced in late June that it will partner with Purdue University to create a new semiconductor design center in the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration within the Purdue University Discovery Park District.

The MediaTek-Purdue partnership, the company’s first with a U.S. university, represents a new growth model for MediaTek USA at a time when most chip-design operations are clustered on the East and West coasts. This represents a larger industry trend, as companies continue to move operations inland off the coasts, they’re taking notice of what the Midwest, and particularly Indiana, has to offer.

MediaTek, which provides chips for wireless communications, high-definition televisions, handheld mobile devices, navigation systems and consumer multi-media products, will work with Purdue on a chip design focused on engineering education. It will also conduct joint research with Purdue in next generation computing and communications chip design.

News of the partnership follows closely the announcement in May of the Accelerating Microelectronics Production and Development (AMPD) task force, an effort to leverage the state’s advanced manufacturing expertise to simultaneously solve a global chip shortage and make Indiana a leader in semiconductor research and production.

“Today’s MediaTek chip design center investment is a testament to Indiana’s advanced manufacturing expertise, our world-class university talent combined with our state’s best-in-class business-friendly climate and focus on higher wage industries of the future,” said Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers. “Our team fully expects that MediaTek’s announcement is just the beginning of semiconductor investment in Indiana, and in the coming years the AMPD task force will be instrumental in facilitating further investment momentum from this critically important industry to the state.”

The idea for the new design center resulted from discussions that occurred in late 2021 when Gov. Eric Holcomb and Sec. Chambers traveled to Silicon Valley to speak with chip manufacturer CEOs about Indiana’s commitment to the semiconductor sector.

Founded in 1997 and operating in the U.S. since 2001, MediaTek employs more than 19,000 associates worldwide, including 500 employees in eight different locations along the U.S. coasts. MediaTek will begin hiring in West Lafayette for electrical engineering and chip design positions soon, in addition to searching for an industry-leading technologist to lead the new center. MediaTek plans to create at least 30 high-paying positions to staff the center.

“Attracting a world-class chip design firm to Indiana has been a longtime goal for our team,” said Purdue University President Mitch Daniels. “I applaud Secretary Chambers, the IEDC and, of course, the whole team here at Purdue for doing the hard work necessary to get a global company to take a look at Indiana and all we have to offer. The MediaTek investment confirms Indiana’s emergence as a center of semiconductor technology and Purdue’s Discovery Park District as the state’s premier new economic engine.”

Indiana is home to more than 1,090 foreign-owned business establishments representing more than 40 countries and territories, including nine from Taiwan. In 2021, 47 foreign-owned businesses committed to locating or growing in Indiana.

This article was featured in the July 2022 edition of the IEDC’s newsletter. Subscribe today.