Taiwan's chip-design stocks are surging, with MediaTek hitting a record high above NT$5,000 a share — good news for Taiwan tech investors and a sign the AI boom is spreading beyond Nvidia-style GPUs into custom chips.

• MediaTek jumped 7% in early trading to a new all-time high, and several smaller chip designers like SiS, Fitipower and DAVICOM hit their daily limit-up.
• The driver is AI custom chips (ASICs): analysts expect MediaTek's AI ASIC business to keep growing through 2029 and possibly make up two-thirds of its revenue by 2028.
• MediaTek is deepening ties with Nvidia, which raises its odds of winning more big cloud customers; its first AI accelerator chip enters mass production this quarter, and data-center revenue should top $2 billion this year.
• August revenue hit a monthly record, up more than 40% from a year earlier, and its new 2nm flagship phone chip (Dimensity 9600) is launching in phones from October despite a 15% drop in global smartphone shipments.
• The broader Taiwan market is also strong, sitting above 47,000, though TSMC slipped slightly; investors are watching this week's Trump–Xi summit on tariffs and AI export rules.

Outlook: Momentum in Taiwan's custom-chip names looks set to continue as long as AI spending holds, with the Trump–Xi meeting the main near-term risk.