Kyung Kye-hyun, President of Samsung Electronics, "Foundry is like a hotel... must offer various services"

Kyung Kye-hyun, President of Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) Division, emphasized on the 9th that "foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) is like the hotel industry, where various services must be prepared to suit the customers."

Kyung Kye-hyun, President of Samsung Electronics DS Division (right)
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, President Kyung made this remark in response to a student question about strategies to attract foundry customers during his lecture titled "Samsung Semiconductor of Dreams and Happiness: A Sustainable Future" for engineering students at Yonsei University.

He explained, "First, we must not lose existing customers and also attract new ones. A good hotel has a high room occupancy rate, and to achieve that, the rooms must be clean and the services must allow customers to stay comfortably."

He continued, "To operate a foundry, services such as IP (intellectual property) and design are necessary, so we are actively working on those. Recently, we have made many 'big deals' and although it requires significant investment, we have also greatly expanded our IP portfolio."

President Kyung also stated, "We are accelerating the development speed of 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer technologies. We need to enhance the advantages perceived by customers, and one of Samsung Electronics' strengths is memory, so we also conduct business that packages memory together."

Regarding the qualities engineers should possess, he advised, "It is important to have the mindset that 'things are not fixed and can change,'" adding, "The CEO of Microsoft described this as a 'growth mindset.'"

Earlier, President Kyung met with students through a lecture at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) last month. He plans to continue giving lectures at other universities. Samsung Electronics is actively fostering semiconductor talent by operating semiconductor contract departments at seven domestic universities, including KAIST.