The Dream of Becoming No.1 in System Semiconductors Led by 'Chongsu' Lee Jae-yong

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyewon] "To lead the 4th Industrial Revolution and prepare for future semiconductor demand, maintaining a 'technology super-gap' is essential. With pride as the number one semiconductor company, do not fear failure and keep challenging."

On the 6th, Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics, who bowed to the public and expressed his determination to break away from past mistakes and be reborn as a 'new Samsung,' chose 'domestic' as the first trillion-won investment destination after his public apology. He is unleashing an investment package of about 10 trillion won to establish a foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) line in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. Despite the economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Lee's bold investment is evaluated as bringing Samsung one step closer to achieving the goal of becoming the world's number one system semiconductor company by 2030.

Following memory semiconductors, Lee has early identified system semiconductors as the new growth engine in the future semiconductor market and is leading the business at the forefront. At the system semiconductor vision declaration ceremony held last April with President Moon Jae-in in attendance, Lee declared, "Following memory, we will definitely become number one in the system semiconductor sector, including foundries," and promised, "As President Moon said, we will actively invest in people and technology for the success of the system semiconductor industry." A month later, at the Hwaseong plant, Lee chaired a meeting of DS and Display presidents and strongly ordered, "We have set the goal of becoming the world's number one in the system semiconductor field, the engine of the 4th Industrial Revolution, by 2030. Please ensure thorough execution of the 133 trillion won investment plan prepared for this."

Lee is investing with a firm belief in "not going alone but creating an industrial ecosystem, cooperating, and contributing to mutual growth." Since 2018, Samsung has operated the 'SAFE (Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem)' program to strengthen cooperation between ecosystem partners and customers, helping them design excellent products effectively as part of fostering a healthy ecosystem. Through this program, Samsung provides customers with automated design tools (EDA) and design methodologies (DM) to overcome the difficulties of designing complex semiconductor chips and facilitate easier design verification. In October last year, Samsung also established the 'SAFE Forum' to review technological trends and collaborate with foundry ecosystem developers. Additionally, Samsung is expanding its foundry business area from mobile to high-performance computing (HPC) by collaborating with major fabless companies such as Qualcomm and Baidu. In March, Samsung also partnered with Germany's Elmos to announce its entry into the European automotive semiconductor market.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.