Qualcomm Chief Executive Cristiano Amon visited Korea and held a series of meetings with executives from Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), SK hynix (000660.KS), and LG Electronics (066570.KS). Analysts say Amon, who leads Qualcomm — a company with world-leading application processor (AP) and communications chip technology — is using this visit to expand cooperation with Korean firms into areas including semiconductor manufacturing and physical artificial intelligence (AI).
According to industry sources on Monday, Amon met the same day with executives including Han Jin-man, president and head of the foundry business at Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) division. "We understand that various discussions, including foundry cooperation, are taking place," an industry official said.
Qualcomm has maintained close ties with Samsung Electronics for more than 30 years, supplying APs for the Galaxy S series. At this meeting, Qualcomm reportedly discussed securing memory chips, which are in short supply globally, while Samsung Electronics discussed cooperation on manufacturing Qualcomm's system chips. In particular, since Amon personally disclosed in January a plan to entrust Samsung Electronics with 2-nanometer (nm, one-billionth of a meter) process production, specific measures are likely to have been discussed at this meeting. Amon is also said to have met with SK hynix executives prior to his meeting with Samsung Electronics.
Amon also met the same day with LG Electronics CEO Ryu Jae-cheol and other executives to discuss cooperation in physical AI and home appliances. Qualcomm has maintained ongoing cooperation with LG Electronics' mobile business (MC division). It is currently expanding points of contact into audio products and the automotive electronics business. This has raised expectations that LG Electronics and Qualcomm could partner in next-generation AI devices such as smart glasses.
