MediaTek launched its most powerful mobile chip yet, good news for the company, TSMC, and phone makers chasing AI features.

• The Dimensity 9600 Pro is MediaTek's first flagship phone chip built on TSMC's 2nm process.
• Phones using it could reach stores in Taiwan as soon as October.
• Single-core speed is up 17% and multi-core up 15% over last year's chip, while power use drops sharply.
• A cheaper sibling, the 9600M, uses 3nm and aims to bring flagship-style AI to more buyers.
• The push is built around "agentic AI" — phones that run AI tasks on the device instead of in the cloud.

Outlook: Expect the first 9600 Pro phones this autumn, with MediaTek and TSMC both riding the demand for on-device AI.