- Legal name
- Richtek Technology Corporation
- Name in Chinese
- 立錡科技
- Founded
- 1998
- Headquarters
- Hsinchu, Taiwan, China
- Ownership
- Wholly-owned subsidiary of MediaTekThe company states this in its own sustainability disclosures.
- Capability layer
- Protection and power management
- Product areas
- Voltage regulators · Battery chargers · LED drivers · Flyback controllers
- Relevance to charging products
- Power management ICs that set charging profiles and protection cut-offsThe specific part used in any product is a design decision by the integrator.
- Website
- richtek.com
- Directory status
- Listed company — compiled from public information. Not a member.
What the company does
Richtek Technology is an analog integrated circuit design company. It was founded in 1998, is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, China, and designs power management ICs — voltage regulators, battery chargers, LED drivers and flyback controllers — for computers, consumer products and network equipment.
The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MediaTek and its financial results are consolidated into MediaTek's statements, which it states in its own sustainability disclosures.
Where it sits in the chain
Protection and power management is the second layer of the industry map. This layer determines the charging profile a product follows, the efficiency it reaches, and the conditions under which it stops charging or cuts off.
It is also the layer that decides whether a device negotiates power correctly in the first place. When a charger and a device fail to agree on a voltage and current — the product charges slowly, or not at all, on a charger that should be capable of more — the fault is usually here, in the controller and the firmware around it, rather than in the power stage or the cell.
What to check when sourcing at this layer
Firmware is part of the part. Two products built on the same controller can behave differently because of the register settings and firmware around it. A datasheet describes the silicon; it does not describe the implementation. When a product misbehaves, the controller is a suspect but the configuration is usually the cause.
Certification follows the implementation, not the chip. A controller may be described as supporting USB Power Delivery or a wireless charging specification. That is a statement about the silicon's capability. The certification belongs to the finished product, tested as built and as configured. See Conformance, certification and market access.
Protection thresholds are somebody's design choice. Over-current, over-temperature and over-voltage cut-offs are set by the integrator, not by the chip vendor. Where those thresholds sit is a decision a person made for a reason, and it is a fair question to ask who made it and against what scenario.
Note on this entry
This entry was compiled by the alliance from the public sources listed below. It was not supplied, reviewed or approved by the company. Richtek Technology is not a member of the alliance, and listing is not an endorsement, a recommendation or an approval of any product.
The alliance does not know which controllers are used in which products. Where that matters, ask the supplier for the part number and check it against the vendor's own datasheet.
Sources
This entry was compiled by the alliance from the public sources listed below. It was not supplied, reviewed or approved by the company.