Gelsinger reportedly arrived in Korea from Taiwan and visited Samsung’s Hwaseong and Suwon campuses. He met Kyung Kye-hyun, president and CEO of Samsung’s Device Solution (DS) Division, and Kim Woo-joon, president of the Network Business Department of the DX Division. The Intel CEO may have also had discussions with other Samsung executives during his visit. However, he couldn’t meet Samsung Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong as the latter arrived in Korea from a business trip to the UAE on the same day. This was Gelsinger’s second Korea trip this year. He previously visited Samsung’s homeland in May and met then-Vice Chairman Lee, who hadn’t resumed full power at the company as he was out of prison on parole. He was granted a presidential pardon in August after widespread calls. This allowed him to formally take control of the conglomerate, which is the largest single contributor to South Korea’s economy. Lee took over the company’s vacant Chairman post in October.
Samsung and Intel meet again to discuss semiconductor cooperation
Samsung and Intel are two of the largest semiconductor companies in the world. The former plays mainly in the smartphone industry and is the world’s largest vendor of memory chips. The latter, meanwhile, famously makes CPUs for computers. Both of them own semiconductor manufacturing units, though Intel mostly only manufactures for itself. Samsung, on the other hand, also manufactures chips for other brands, including Intel’s rival Nvidia. Despite competing in the same industry, the two semiconductor giants frequently collaborate on various projects. They appear to be cooperating again on new semiconductor strategies amid a global economic slump. The firms have taken a hit to their respective businesses as consumer spending dropped across the industry, leading to lower sales. The Intel CEO has visited South Korea twice in a span of seven months to discuss semiconductor cooperation. During his previous Korea visit, Gelsinger reportedly talked about cooperation on next-gen memory chips, system semiconductors, foundry, PCs, and mobile devices with Lee. Unfortunately, it’s unclear how Samsung and Intel plan to ride this storm. We will likely get to know more about their collaboration in the coming months.
