Business Profile
Samsung's Semiconductor Business was founded in Korea with the acquisition of Hankook Semiconductor in 1974. Early operations consisted mostly of developing and mass producing ICs and peripherals for such consumer electronics as analog and LED watches, televisions, audio players and microwave ovens. The pivotal turning point in Samsung's evolution into a leading semiconductor manufacturer was the successful development of the 64Kb DRAM in 1983, and the subsequent opening of the Giheung Semiconductor Complex and Samsung’s first memory fabrication facility in 1984.
Through a strategy of aggressive growth, Samsung has held market leadership positions in Memory since 1993, and in NAND Flash since 2003. In 2001, the company signaled a long commitment to logic and analog chip development with the expansion of its System LSI Division and the opening of its SoC Research Lab. In 2004, Samsung's Hard Disk Drive Division was combined with its Semiconductor Business.
The Semiconductor Business of Samsung Electronics, based in Giheung, Korea, consists of three major divisions : Memory, System LSI and Storage Systems. It has pioneered numerous advancements in chip technology that are now widely used in mobile, desktop and other digital consumer products.
Memory
The Memory Division Division designs and manufactures integrated circuits for storing digital information. Leading the global DRAM market since 1992, Samsung Electronics has also led the way with NAND flash memory by developing the world's first 64Gb NAND chip. In addition, Samsung was the first to apply 40nm-class process technology in mass producing DRAM. The company has been accelerating the sale of high-capacity 40nm-class DRAM devices since the first quarter of 2009, and will achieve even greater inroads in the NAND flash memory market using more cost-efficient 30nm class processing.
Samsung has achieved steady sales growth and increased profitability by being the first to introduce such differentiated products for mobile devices and game consoles as graphics DRAM, its proprietary OneDRAM™, OneNAND™ and Flex-OneNAND™, and distinctive MCP (multi-chip package) solutions.
Samsung also has been a pioneer in the development of Solid State Drives (SSDs). The flash-based SSD, a drop-in replacement for a hard disk drive, is a highly reliable, high performance means of storing personal or work-related data. Samsung released its first 32GB SSD (PATA) in March 2006, followed by a 64GB SSD in June 2007 and its 128GB SATA II SSD in July 2008. Mass production of the 256GB MLC-based SSD began in November, 2008. Samsung is aggressively expanding development efforts for its SSDs. Its rapid SSD technology advancements are the result of efficiencies enabled by the company's unique combination of NAND flash memory, firmware and controller technology for flash management.
The System LSI Division is a leading designer and manufacturer of application specific devices, micro components, logic ICs, analog ICs and image sensors. The division concentrates on 3 major market areas - mobile solutions, home & media solutions, and ASIC & foundry services. Since 2001, the System LSI Division has had an average yearly increase in sales of around 18%. The System LSI Division has held “number one” market share in Display Driver ICs (DDI) since 2002, and in navigational APs and smart card ICs since 2006. System LSI is also a market leader in MP3 SoCs and CMOS image sensors (CIS). The System LSI Division will continue to focus on developing and marketing premium products in its five strategic products areas - DDI, CIS, mobile application processor, chip card IC, and media player IC - with the ultimate goal of holding a top market position in each of these business areas.
The Storage Systems Division designs and manufactures hard drives aimed at both the personal computing industry and the mobile environment. Its hard drive line- up offers an extensive range of capacities, in 2.5" and 3.5" drives for notebook PCs, desktop PCs and consumer electronics, to the 1.8" drive for personal media players, cell phones, PDAs, navigators, MP3s and other mobile applications. Most recently, Samsung announced a new line-up of stylish, high capacity external hard disk drives, the Samsung S Series family, consisting of 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch drives.
The Semiconductor Business has 15 front-end production facilities around the world. Semiconductor fabs are located in Giheung and Hwaseong, Korea (near Seoul), and in Austin, Texas. The company also operates IC assembly plants in Onyang, Korea and Suzhou, China. A key benefit of Samsung's semiconductor strategy is the flexibility to shift production between manufacturing facilities in anticipation of changing market demands. This helps to insulate Samsung from declining market dynamics and to stabilize its operating margins.
Samsung also operates state-of-the-art Class-10 hard-drive manufacturing facilities in Gumi, Korea. The Gumi plant boasts the highest quality production, with automation that enables rapid adaptation to future technologies.
R&D CommitmentInvestment in R&D facilities is a high priority today and will continue to be so in the future. Of the company's 33,500 employees based in Korea, over 30% have work duties dedicated to research and development. The Semiconductor Business also conducts research in San Jose (California), Suzhou (China), Yokohama (Japan), Bangalore (India), and Tel Aviv (Israel). In 2008, Samsung Electronics as a whole invested US$6.3 billion in R&D - around 9.45 percent of its annual sales. As a result, Samsung Electronics has been able to maintain its 2nd place position in registered US patents – reaching 3,515 in 2008, an increase of 29 percent over 2007.
