With global economic uncertainties remaining, the semiconductor industry will show slow growth in 2012, said Oh-Hyun Kwon, head of Samsung Electronics' chip business, at a media conference in Taipei on September 29.
Weakness in the PC market and falling consumer confidence are the reasons for the less-ambitious outlook, said Kwon. In response to the situation, Samsung has reduced the ratio of PC DRAM to total capacity to 30% and shifted its focus to more competitive products, such as advanced DRAM for mobile devices and servers and NAND flash chips for SSD and embedded storage applications, Kwon pointed out.
Samsung has introduced 30nm 4Gb LPDDR3 for smartphones and tablets, with sampling slated for the fourth quarter of 2011, Kwon said. Samsung has also begun making eMMC-interface NAND devices using its newer 20nm-class process technology, which will be the major production node for eMMC solutions by the end of 2011, Kwon indicated.
In addition, Kwon updated several developments about Samsung's system LSI operations. Kwon said that Samsung has been constantly developing its process technologies since its entry in 2005. Currently, it places a heavy emphasis on solutions for mobile applications, Kwon indicated.
Samsung is positive about the market for mobile application processors, according to Kwon. Despite slow growth anticipated for the overall semiconductor market in 2012, the segment for ICs used in mobile technology products is expected to enjoy impressive growth, Kwon said.
Kwon revealed that Samsung will start sampling dual-core application processors – dubbed Exynos 4212 – built using its 32nm HKMG technology to customers in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Kwon also noted that in 2012, investment in its chip business will mainly focus on developing competitive technologies and products. The direction will become clearer after discussions with customers in October, Kwon said. He did not reveal a capex figure.