MediaTek has announced that its new flagship smartphone processor, the Dimensity 9600 Pro, is the first chip to be manufactured using TSMC's advanced 2-nanometer N2P process, putting it ahead of rival Qualcomm in adopting the technology. Qualcomm is not expected to use the same TSMC process until its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chip launches next week, giving MediaTek a notable head start in the race to bring cutting-edge chip manufacturing to premium smartphones.

The Dimensity 9600 Pro features a new 2+3+3 all-big-core CPU design, delivering a 17% boost in single-core speed and 15% in multi-core performance, alongside a 61% cut in multi-core power use. It also includes a dual-NPU architecture with an "Agentic AI Engine" for on-device AI, plus gaming improvements of 27% higher peak performance and 18% faster raytracing. MediaTek, which describes itself as the world's largest mobile chipset maker by market value, supplies brands including Oppo, Xiaomi, Samsung, Motorola and Realme; Apple separately confirmed last week that its new iPhone 18 range also uses TSMC's 2nm process.