MediaTek Genio 720 and 520 AIoT SoCs target generative AI applications with 10 TOPS AI accelerator

The announcement of the MediaTek Genio 720 and Genio 520 octa-core Cortex-A78/A55 AIoT SoCs is one of the news I missed at Embedded World 2025. The new models appear to be updates to the Genio 700 and Genio 500 with a beefier NPU, and the Taiwanese company says the new Genio series supports generative AI models, human-machine interface (HMI), multimedia, and connectivity features for smart home, retail, industrial, and commercial IoT devices.

Both are equipped with a 10 TOPS NPU/AI accelerator for transformer and convolutional neural network (CNN) models and support up to 16GB of LPDDR5 memory to handle “edge-optimized” (i.e. quantized) large language models (LLMs) such as Llama, Gemini, Phi, and DeepSeek, and other generative AI tasks.

MediaTek Genio 720 and Genio 520 specifications:

Octa-core CPU
- Genio 520
  - 2x Arm Cortex-A78 up to 2.2 GHz (Commercial) or 2.0 GHz (Industrial)
  - 6x Arm Cortex-A55 up to 2.0 GHz (Commercial) or 1.8 GHz (Industrial)
- Genio 720
  - 2x Arm Cortex-A78 up to 2.6 GHz (Commercial) or 2.4 GHz (Industrial)
  - 6x Arm Cortex-A55 up to 2.0 GHz (no differences listed for commercial vs industrial grades here)
GPU
- Genio 520 – Arm Mali-G57 MC2 up to 880 MHz with support for OpenGL, OpenCL, Vulkan
- Genio 720 – Arm Mali-G57 MC2 up to 1.1 GHz with support for OpenGL, OpenCL, Vulkan
VPU
- Video Encoding – 4K30, HEVC/H.264
- Video Decoding – 4K60, HEVC/H.264
AI accelerator – 8th Generation NPU delivering up to 10 TOPS
System Memory – Up to 16GB LPDDR4X up to 4266Mbps, LPDDR5 up to 6400Mbps
Storage – 2-lane UFS 3.1, eMMC 5.1
Display Interfaces
- LVDS (FHD), MIPI DSI (2.5K), eDP 1.4 (4K60), and DP over Type-C (5K60 ultrawide)
- Dual active display support
Audio
- Input – 2x I2S (2ch, M+M/S), 1x PCM (2ch), 2x DMIC (2ch)
- Output – 2x I2S (2ch, M), 1x PCM (2ch)
Camera
- Genio 520 – Single ISP: 16MP + 16MP @ 30 FPS
- Genio 720 – Dual ISP: 32MP @ 30 FPS, 16MP + 16MP @ 30 FPS; up to 6x FHD30 camera with MIPI virtual channels
Networking
- Gigabit Ethernet MAC
- Wireless
  - Pre-integrated Wi-Fi 6 1×1 / WiFi 6E 2×2 with Bluetooth 5.3
  - Support for Wi-Fi 7 and 5G Redcap external modules
USB
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen-1 (Host, 1 shared with DP),
- 2x USB 2.0 (Host)
- 1x USB 2.0 (Host/Device)
PCIe – PCIe Gen2
Low-speed I/O – 4x UART, 9x I2C, 6x SPI, 4x PWM
Package – 13.8 x 12.8mm VFBGA, ball pitch 0.4mm
Temperature Range
- Commercial – -20 to +95°C (Tj)
- Industrial – -40 to +105°C (Tj)
Manufacturing Process – 6nm

MediaTek provides support for Android, Yocto Linux, and Ubuntu OS, and the Nvidia TAO Toolkit can leverage the NPU. The Genio 720 and Genio 520 are almost identical, and the only obvious differences I noticed are the higher CPU and GPU frequencies of the Genio 720, as well as its dual ISP.

I had lots of hope for the Genio family when the Genio 1200 was introduced in 2022 followed by some development kits, and then official Ubuntu support, but it never really gained much traction, even after Radxa introduced the NIO 12L SBC for $99 with Yocto Linux, and $124 with Ubuntu certified. I assume the Genio 720 and Genio 520 will mostly be integrated into commercial products like digital signage and consumer/industrial HMI applications.

MediaTek says the Genio 720 and Genio 520 platforms will be sampling in Q2 2025, but didnot give any information about mass production, so I’m going out on a limb and expect Q4 2025 or Q1 2026. The company also commits to a long 10+ year product life. Additional information may be found on the Genio products page and the press release.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.