Kyung Kye-hyun, President of Samsung Electronics, "Expanding IP and Design to Secure Foundry Customers"

Announcing Workforce Training to Meet Generative AI Demand
"Allowing Use of In-House ChatGPT"

"The foundry business is like the hotel industry. Until now, there were few rooms (production capacity, capacity) and insufficient services. We are building various services such as designer assets (IP) and design that customers need to create better rooms in the future."

Samsung Electronics' semiconductor chief Kyung Kye-hyun, President of the DS Division, said this during a lecture at Yonsei University in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 9th. He also stated, "We are accelerating the development speed of 3 nanometers (nm; 1 nm = one billionth of a meter) and 2 nm," emphasizing that they are working hard in various ways to increase foundry customers.

Kyung Kye-hyun, President of Samsung Electronics DS Division, is giving a lecture to students at Yonsei University on the afternoon of the 9th. /
Photo by Kim Pyeong-hwa

President Kyung shared the current status, challenges, and future vision of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor business under the theme "Samsung Semiconductor's Dream and Happiness: A Sustainable Future." The lecture was aimed at Yonsei University students majoring in semiconductor-related fields, and he personally visited the educational site to secure talent, which has emerged as the top priority in the semiconductor industry. More than 400 students filled the lecture hall.

When asked about the foundry customer acquisition strategy during the lecture, President Kyung explained that they are focusing on expanding services needed by fabless (semiconductor design) customers. This includes expanding IP through significant investments and broadening design services.

Samsung Electronics is the second-largest player in the foundry market. Compared to the number one player, Taiwan's TSMC, Samsung has been evaluated as lacking competitiveness not only in capacity but also in areas such as IP and design. President Kyung explained that they plan to improve this to increase customer satisfaction with diverse needs.

He also said, "We intend to enhance the strengths that customers feel about Samsung Electronics' foundry," emphasizing, "Since we are in the memory business, we also operate a business that packages memory."

Kyung Kye-hyun, Head of DS Division (President) / Photo by Kim Pyeong-hwa

Addressing semiconductor technology challenges related to generative artificial intelligence (AI), which has emerged due to the ChatGPT effect, is also a major business task. President Kyung explained, "If people worldwide all use generative AI, there will be power consumption issues," and stressed the need to find solutions.

He also believed that excellent talent would be essential to solve these challenges. Accordingly, he said, "We will gather employees and send them to the U.S. to learn from outstanding experts like Jim Keller." Jim Keller is a design expert who contributed to semiconductor technology improvements through his work at AMD and Tesla in the U.S.

Regarding the recent trend of many companies banning internal use of ChatGPT due to concerns about confidential information leaks, he expressed opposition. He added that since ChatGPT is the highest intelligence, it should be actively utilized.

President Kyung said, "A 6-year engineer took 60 minutes to write code, but ChatGPT writes and verifies code in 10 minutes," and added, "From next year, we plan to enable its use in some form."

President Kyung previously gave a lecture on the same topic at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon on the 4th of last month. Both KAIST and Yonsei University operate semiconductor contract departments with Samsung Electronics. Samsung Electronics is focusing on talent acquisition through a total of seven domestic university contract departments, including Sungkyunkwan University and Pohang University of Science and Technology.