MediaTek Announces Kompanio Ultra For Upcoming Chromebooks

Even though Chromebooks run on little power compared to some high-end laptops on the market, MediaTek is planning on giving the genre a big AI-centric boost with a new MediaTek Kompanio Ultra SoC. The new chip is built on a 3nm process and offers some serious power for upcoming Chromebooks.

The Kompanio Ultra chipset is being positioned as the best of the best in the Chromebook market. There have not been any big Chromebook announcements as of yet, but the new SoC might mean more are on the horizon. MediaTek notes that new Chromebook Plus devices would be equipped with the chipset.

According to MediaTek, the new Kompanio Ultra consists of an “all-big-core” architecture with 8 Arm cortex-X925 cores and no small support units. MediaTek says this boosts performance up to 18% compared to the competition while using half the power. If this stands, that’s a large boost for Chromebooks that stay powered for longer.

The Kompanio Ultra is also set up to work well with Google Gemini. An 8th-gen NPU onboard can handle current AI loads with faster processing and power efficiency with 50 TOPS of AI power. All that’s to say the chipset will work well with Gemini models, especially as much as they’ve become tied into how Chromebooks operate on Google Workspace. As more features become available using AI, the Kompanio Ultra looks to be the best chance for flawless performance. As it stands, Google is already beginning to replace Google Assistant with Gemini on Chromebooks.

MediaTek also notes that the Kompanio Ultra can handle 60fps gaming for top Android titles and up to two external 4K displays, which is a nice touch. Of course, Wi-Fi 7 capabilities are included. At the end of the day, Chromebooks aren’t meant to be powerhouses, but this chipset is certainly trying to change that.

Chromebooks with the new Kompanio Ultra SoC will be available “in the coming months.”

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