Chromebooks get an AI upgrade with MediaTek’s new Kompanio Ultra chip
What just happened? The race to integrate artificial intelligence into every facet of technology has reached the Chromebook market, with MediaTek unveiling its most advanced system-on-chip. Dubbed the Kompanio Ultra, this new SoC is designed to bring on-device AI capabilities to Chromebooks.
At the heart of this product is MediaTek’s 8th-generation neural processing unit, which delivers 50 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) of AI processing power.
To contextualize this achievement, the Kompanio Ultra’s NPU outpaces Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite – used in some Windows laptops – which offers 45 TOPS, and far exceeds Intel’s Core Ultra 285HX, which delivers 13 TOPS. While these comparisons aren’t equivalent due to differences in architecture and target markets, they underscore the raw AI processing power MediaTek has packed into its latest chip.
The Kompanio Ultra uses a 3-nanometer manufacturing process and features an eight-core CPU. This includes a high-performance Arm Cortex-X925 core clocked at up to 3.62GHz, three Cortex-X4 cores, and four Cortex-A720 cores.
Complementing the CPU is an 11-core Immortalis-G925 MC11 GPU, which supports ray tracing for improved graphics rendering and LPDDR5X-8533 memory for faster data access.
MediaTek claims the chip can easily handle intensive applications such as video editing, content creation, and high-resolution gaming. The company says users can expect smooth multitasking and lag-free performance, even in demanding scenarios.
The Kompanio Ultra reportedly maintains a consistent 60 frames per second in the top 10 Android games while offering up to 18 percent faster CPU performance and consuming up to 50 percent less power than competitors like Intel’s Core Ultra 5 125U CPU.
The chip also comes with several advanced features aimed at enhancing user experience. These include support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 connectivity, the ability to drive three 4K displays simultaneously (one built-in and two external), and support for 4K60 video decoding and encoding across multiple formats. Additionally, MediaTek promises extended battery life for all-day computing without frequent recharges.
John Solomon, Vice President and General Manager of ChromeOS and Google for Education, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership with MediaTek. He said the Kompanio Ultra will open new avenues for on-device AI features on Chromebook Plus devices “while delivering awesome power efficiency for those crucial extra hours while on the go.”
MediaTek has confirmed that Chromebooks equipped with the Kompanio Ultra will be available in the coming months.
