The blazing speed of development and rapid advancements in AI, and in particular Generative-AI (GenAI) technology is having a profound impact on all applications, devices, and services across all aspects of the economy. The new capabilities and enhanced productivity that can be achieved by leveraging these capabilities cannot be ignored. 

A July 2024 report from J.P. Morgan predicted that AI technology will deliver a labor productivity boost of 17.5%, surpassing the 12.6% gain attributed to the PC & Internet. This could add $7T of economic potential to the US economy in the next 20 years.

At the Embedded World exhibition and conference in Nuremberg last month, we announced our next-gen IoT platforms: Genio 720 & Genio 520. Given the massive impact of AI & GenAI we are witnessing already, MediaTek is launching this new generation of pin-to-pin and SW compatible IoT platforms to address this opportunity. 

We know that for many applications, issues of cost, data-privacy and security, latency, and other concerns mandate that the AI and GenAI applications run on-device at the edge, rather than in the cloud. This is even more critical for many IoT applications in the consumer, enterprise, and industrial markets. To address this requirement, we leverage MediaTek’s broad AI technology portfolio and leading ecosystem partnerships to deliver the best possible solutions for GenAI edge applications.

Genio 720 and 520 platforms support GenAI capabilities by:

• Integration of MediaTek’s 8th generation Neural Processing Unit (NPU), that delivers up to 10 TOPS of on-device system level acceleration at low power. 
• The NPU can support traditional AI applications with convolutional neural networks (CNN) for such use cases as object detection and image classification, as well as supporting the latest transformer and large language models (LLMs) to support generative AI uses cases, such as natural language processing, content creation and AI agents. 
• The Genio 720 and 520 support up to 16GB of high-speed LPDDR5x memory at 6400 Mbps to support these LLMs.
• Our integration of NVIDIA TAO and widely adopted AI models for Edge AI applications enables developers to scale their designs across different products and form factors, from smart retail displays to sophisticated industrial HMI applications.
• Leveraging MediaTek’s broad ecosystem partnerships in the AI space, across all our business segments, we can ensure optimal support for all the leading LLMs such as Llama, Gemini, Phi, DeepSeek, QWEN, and others.
• The Genio 720 and 520 also integrate an octa-core CPU configuration consisting of 2x Arm Cortex A78 + 6x Arm Cortex A55, as well as an Arm Mali G57 MC2 GPU for added computational capabilities.

Solution

Both platforms are fabricated in a power-efficient 6nm process node, such as devices can use fanless chassis and operate in off-grid environments and during periods of battery power. MediaTek’s expertise in multimedia continues to be ever-present, making them ideal for commercial displays, smart retail devices, HMI applications, and other multi-window or interactive applications. The platforms support up to 5K displays, 4K video encode/decode, and 32 MP cameras, including support for up to 6 cameras at 30fps and FHD resolution. 

Getting started with Genio 720 or 520 is easy. OSM (Open Standard Module) support with reference designs greatly shortens the development cycle, further accelerating time to market. Take a look at our Genio IoT area for guidelines on development kits and module partners.