Samsung chief holds meetings with global tech CEOs in US

Tech giant vows to adopt advanced chip technology by 2027

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong pose with Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg at his house in Palo Alto, California on Tuesday. (Samsung Electronics)

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong held consecutive meetings with the chiefs of global tech giants including Meta, Amazon and Qualcomm, in an effort to strengthen ties and boost collaboration during his two-week trip to the US, the company said on Thursday.

Lee shared insights and prospects over advanced technology markets with the tech leaders and also checked on the company's business operations, the company said.

In his meeting with Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon on Monday, Lee discussed expanding collaboration in AI chips. Samsung maintains a long-standing partnership, and uses Qualcomm's cutting-edge Snapdragon chips in its flagship smartphones.

On Tuesday, Lee met with Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, visiting his house located in Palo Alto, California. The two discussed possible collaborations of their companies in fields including AI, augmented reality and virtual reality, Samsung said.

In Seattle on Wednesday, Lee visited the headquarters of Amazon and shared Samsung's prospects for generative AI and cloud computing with Andy Jassy, Amazon's president and CEO.

During his trip to the US, he also met with other global fabless firms to strengthen ties and promote Samsung's foundry business, as well as with lawmakers and government officials. Lee departed for the US on May 31.

"Let's pioneer the future in a Samsung-like manner, leveraging Samsung's strengths," Lee said, rounding up his US trip.

Samsung Electronics said it will hold a global strategy meeting with key executives and overseas headquarters chiefs to come up with detailed business plans and visions at the end of this month.

As the chairman was traveling to fortify ties with US companies, the company held the Samsung Foundry Forum, unveiling its cutting-edge 2-nanometer and 4nm process nodes.

Choi Si-young, President and Head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics speaks at the annual Samsung Foundry Form held at the company's Device Solutions America headquarters in San Jose, California on Wednesday. (Samsung Electronics)

At the annual forum held in San Jose, California, the tech giant outlined its vision for the artificial intelligence era, as the company seeks to gain a stronger foothold in the foundry market, which is currently dominated by Taiwan-based TSMC.

The company reaffirmed its commitment to start chip production using advanced technologies from 2027, and introduced its new integrated Samsung AI Solutions, which will help the company reduce its supply time by 20 percent.

"At a time when numerous technologies are evolving around AI, the key to its implementation lies in high-performance, low-power semiconductors," Choi Si-young, president and head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics, said at the annual event held at the company's Device Solutions America headquarters.

"Alongside our proven GAA process optimized for AI chips, we plan to introduce integrated, co-packaged optics technology for high-speed, low-power data processing, providing our customers with the one-stop AI solutions they need to thrive in this transformative era." GAA refers to Samsung's gate-all-around transistor structure.

At the event, the chipmaker announced two new process nodes, the SF2Z and SF4U, reinforcing its leading-edge process technology road map.

The SF2Z is the company's latest 2nm process, incorporating optimized backside power delivery network technology. It has been designed to enhance not only power, performance and area (PPA) when compared to the previous generation 2nm node, the SF2, but it also significantly reduces voltage drop, according to Samsung. The company said it will start mass production of the SF2Z in 2027.

The SF4U is a high-value 4nm variant that offers PPA improvements by incorporating optical shrink, with mass production scheduled for 2025.

Samsung also reaffirmed that its preparations for the cutting-edge SF1.4 or 1.4nm process are progressing smoothly, with performance and yield targets on track for mass production in 2027.

Operating on all fronts of chipmaking, Samsung also introduced Samsung AI Solutions, a turnkey AI platform resulting from collaborative efforts across the company’s foundry, memory and advanced chip packaging businesses.

Cross-company collaboration can streamline supply chain management and reduce time to market, enabling a remarkable 20 percent improvement in total turnaround time, Samsung said.

By 2027, the company will introduce an all-in-one, CPO-integrated AI solution to provide customers with "one-stop" AI solutions, it added.

At the event, Arm CEO Rene Haas and Groq CEO Jonathan Ross also took the stage to talk about Arm's robust partnerships with Samsung in tackling new AI challenges. Around 30 partner companies exhibited their work in booths, further highlighting the dynamic collaboration across the US foundry ecosystem.

By Jo He-rim(herim@heraldcorp.com)