Samsung Semiconductor's Vision for 'Automotive Memory' Aiming for No. 1 Leap

Richard Walsh, Vice President and Head of Memory Marketing at Samsung Semiconductor Europe, Publishes an Opinion Piece

Samsung Electronics is participating for the first time in Europe's largest motor show. At this event, it plans to introduce its vision for automotive memory through three key themes: ▲autonomous driving ▲centralized computing ▲V2X (vehicle-to-everything) communication.

Richard Walsh, Vice President and Head of Memory Marketing at Samsung Semiconductor Europe, posted an article titled 'Automotive Memory Technology - IAA Mobility 2023 and Future Prospects' on Samsung Electronics Semiconductor Newsroom on the 28th. The purpose of this post was to preview the key themes Samsung Electronics will introduce at 'IAA Mobility 2023,' held in Munich, Germany, in September.

At the beginning of his article, Vice President Walsh said, "The automotive industry and the mobility sector as a whole are undergoing a critical and continuous period of change," adding, "Samsung memory technology will play a key role in these changes." He continued, "Ahead of this exhibition, I want to discuss trends in automotive memory technology and the future direction of mobility."

IAA Mobility is an event where automotive manufacturers, suppliers, and technology brands from around the world gather to share the latest automotive technologies and design the future of mobility. It is regarded as an excellent opportunity for industry leaders to showcase innovations and set directions for future changes.

Richard Walsh, Vice President and Head of Memory Marketing, Samsung Semiconductor Europe /

The first key theme presented by Vice President Walsh is 'autonomous driving.' He explained that there have been significant recent advances in transitioning from advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) to full autonomous driving.

Walsh stated, "Within the next 5 to 10 years, more than 50% of vehicles on highways will be capable of autonomous driving," adding, "This will require enhanced processing power and large-capacity, high-performance memory solutions." He also predicted, "We will be able to use a variety of applications beyond our current imagination, from movies and games to video conferencing."

The evolution of vehicle computing towards a 'centralized' model is also a trend to watch. As cars become more sophisticated, manufacturers will seek to simplify and streamline systems as much as possible.

Vice President Walsh said, "by centralizing the functions of the central processing unit (CPU), a large amount of memory will be integrated into fewer devices," predicting that "memory devices such as solid-state drives (SSD) will be more widely applied in vehicles in the future." He also forecasted that "the use of SSDs in the automotive industry will increase significantly over the next 4 to 6 years."

Samsung Electronics' in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) UFS 3.1 product image launched in July /
[Image courtesy of Samsung Electronics]

Another trend is V2X communication. As the number of autonomous vehicles supported by ADAS increases, vehicle-to-vehicle communication will inevitably grow. The higher the connectivity between vehicles and the outside world, the more important data connectivity becomes. Walsh predicted that 5G technology, which enables safe and efficient driving, will play a key role as the industry focuses on the potential of V2X communication.

He said, "Although we will showcase future-oriented trends at IAA Mobility 2023 this year, behind every innovation lie carefully designed elements," adding, "Thanks to invisible innovations at the system level, we can achieve meaningful progress in enhancing passenger safety and protecting the global environment."

Samsung Electronics expects that by 2030, alongside servers and mobile devices, automobiles will become one of the three major future application areas. Accordingly, it is expanding its market presence by introducing various products such as Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 3.1 for automotive use. It has also set a goal to surpass US-based Micron and become the number one player in the automotive memory market by 2025.

Kim Jae-jun, Vice President of Samsung Electronics Memory Business Division, said during the Q2 conference call on the 27th, "After eight years in the automotive semiconductor business without a single supply issue, we have built trust with major customers and have now entered major Tier 1 OEM companies," adding, "We will continue to strengthen our leadership in the automotive market with competitive products."

Market research firm Omdia forecasts that the global automotive semiconductor market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12.8% until 2026, reaching a size of $96.2 billion. Last year, it exceeded $62.4 billion.

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