Samsung Turns to Sun Valley as it Hunts for More AI Chip Customers

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Samsung appears to be putting more focus on its AI semiconductor business. The company’s Chairman, Lee Jae-yong, attended this year’s Sun Valley Conference in the US alongside the head of the foundry business, Han Jin-man. This could allow the Korean foundry to win AI chip-making orders from global tech giants.

Samsung appears to put its foundry strategy in the spotlight at the Sun Valley conference

While Samsung has maintained a solid position in the memory chip space, its foundry business continues to lag behind industry leader TSMC. As demand for AI chips rises, securing more contract manufacturing orders has become increasingly important for the Korean firm. This would not only help its foundry business return to quarterly profitability but also narrow the gap with its rival in terms of revenue and market share.

Samsung is already moving in that direction by expanding its cutting-edge chip manufacturing capabilities and securing orders from several big clients, including Tesla. However, the company still needs to secure more large and long-term customers if it wants to improve the performance of its foundry business.

Since Han took charge of the foundry business late last year, his presence at Sun Valley shows Samsung’s strong push to grow its customer base. Previously leading Samsung’s semiconductor operations in the Americas, Han has solid ties with key North American companies.

This year’s Sun Valley Conference brought key executives from global tech companies. These include Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. So, Samsung probably got an opportunity to hold AI chip manufacturing talks with potential big clients.

Samsung’s Sun Valley trip is said to be a two-top sales effort by Lee and Han. Lee makes good relationships with executives, while Han focuses on foundry and packaging orders. Note that the Sun Valley Conference is not the place for signing contracts, but it can create future business opportunities.

Written by

Binay Konwar

Binay Konwar started his blogging journey in 2014 and has since written plenty of tech articles. At present, he is working as a News Writer at SammyGuru, covering everything about Samsung. He holds a Master's degree in Mathematics, but his real passion lies in tech and writing. In his free time, he enjoys playing chess and watching movies.

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