OpenAI Teams With Qualcomm, MediaTek on Custom Phone Chip
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- OpenAI is working with Qualcomm and MediaTek to build a custom smartphone processor, with Luxshare likely serving as the key assembler, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
- OpenAI is targeting 300-400 million annual shipments for its high-end smartphone, with specifications expected to be finalized by late 2026 or Q1 2027.
- OpenAI's vision replaces traditional apps with real-time AI agent inference, with the phone's hardware collecting users' 'full real-time state' and handling on-device processing while complex tasks offload to the cloud.
- OpenAI is pursuing full vertical integration — processor, hardware, and UI — explicitly emulating Apple's strategy of controlling the entire stack rather than just its AI models.
- OpenAI has reportedly shelved other consumer devices, including the "Sweetpea" earbuds and the pen-shaped "Gumdrop" device, to concentrate resources on the smartphone effort.
- Apple's weakness is underscored by its reliance on Google's Gemini to power the revamped Siri voice assistant, per the report — handing a core AI function to a rival while OpenAI builds a competing phone.
Why it matters: OpenAI moving from software to custom silicon and device assembly at 300-400 million-unit scale — squarely in iPhone shipment territory — reframes the AI race as a hardware race. Apple, already ceding Siri's AI core to Google, now faces a competitor that wants to own chip-to-UI the way Apple has for two decades, threatening both iPhone hardware dominance and the App Store services model.
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