Mediatek offers cheap Android chips

TAIWANESE SEMICONDUCTER COMPANY Mediatek has signed up to the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) so it can provide cheap chipsets for smartphones running Google's Android OS.

Mediatek is sewing up the smartphone chipset market with several 'strategic partnership' deals. Back in February the company announced an alliance with the Vole to provide smartphone components for Windows based mobiles. Now Mediatek wants a piece of open source action and has buttered up Google by joining the OHA.

Speaking in ridiculously long sentences, Jeffrey Ju, general manager of MediaTek's Wireless Communication Business Unit said Android is the way to go.

"Android is an innovative platform to enable the best user experience of today's connected world with online multimedia, services and social networking and we are excited to support the mission of the OHA in advancing the adoption of Android in the market," said Ju.

"As an OHA member, MediaTek strives to provide device makers and partners with multimedia-rich chipset solutions, efficient services and experienced technical teams that differentiate our Android-based solutions," he continued.

This deal will flood the Chinese market with shedloads of low cost Android smartphones. As the chipset is traditionally the most expensive thing to manufacture, it should mean a wider adoption of Google's open sauce OS in emerging markets. µ