[2021 뉴노멀] Samsung Electronics accelerates the super gap between semiconductors and smartphones

Last year, the domestic industry was a year with a lot of ups and downs due to the uncertain external environment, such as the novel virus infection Corona 19 and the trade dispute between the US and China.

Samsung Electronics was no exception. Corona 19 brought cold water to anticipation of a recovery in the semiconductor industry, and a dark cloud was caught on export fronts, including domestic and overseas production bases.

Although it showed signs of recovery in the second half of the year, this situation is expected to continue this year. Accordingly, Samsung Electronics is planning to secure corporate competitiveness and future growth engines through generous investments in key businesses while strengthening its internal stability.

The semiconductor sluggishness, which has continued since the end of 2018, is predicting a full-fledged recovery this year, and it is expected to improve profitability through the technology gap.

According to related industries on the 1st, Samsung Electronics is expected to continue to gain technological superiority in semiconductors and smartphones and accelerate innovation.

As the global semiconductor market shows signs of supply shortage, expectations are raised that it will re-enter next year’s boom. In a recent report, the World Semiconductor Trade and Statistics Organization (WSTS) predicted that next year’s global semiconductor market sales will increase 8.4% from this year to $469.4 billion. The sales in the memory semiconductor market such as DRAM are expected to increase by 13.3% from this year to 135.3 billion dollars (about 147 trillion won).

Increased sales of smartphones and PCs, 5G expansion, data center expansion, artificial intelligence (AI) activation, competition for building data centers for IT companies, etc. are expected to boost semiconductor demand. Domestic semiconductor companies are expected to benefit most from the global semiconductor boom.

Accordingly, Samsung Electronics plans to solidify its No. 1 position in the memory semiconductor business by continuously investing and securing technological superiority. In addition, the company is making efforts to grow the foundry business and actively seek to secure future growth engines.

In August of last year, Samsung Electronics began operation of line 2 in Pyeongtaek, the world’s largest semiconductor factory. In this line, the industry’s first advanced third-generation 10-nano class (1z) LPDDR5 mobile DRAM to which the EUV (extreme ultraviolet) process is applied will be produced.

Samsung Electronics’ Pyeongtaek Line 2 is the world’s largest semiconductor production line with a total floor area of ​​128900m2, which is the size of 16 soccer fields.

Starting from this mass production of DRAM, the 2nd Pyeongtaek line will play a key role in achieving the semiconductor super gap in the era of the 4th industrial revolution by being built into a high-tech complex production line that produces next-generation V-NAND and ultra-fine foundry products.

Samsung Electronics commenced construction of a foundry production line in Pyeongtaek Line 2 last May to meet the demand for EUV-based cutting-edge products, and in June, it also began construction of a NAND flash production line to respond to increasing demand for advanced V-NAND. Both lines are scheduled to be fully operational from the second half of this year.

Accordingly, large-scale investments of over 30 trillion won in total will be executed for this Pyeongtaek Line 2 following Pyeongtaek Line 1. Samsung Electronics plans to preoccupy future semiconductor market opportunities by actively investing in the Pyeongtaek campus.

In addition, the foundry business is also accelerating. Samsung Electronics entered the foundry field somewhat lately, but was evaluated as being at the forefront in the field of ultrafine process technology under 7 nanometers, such as succeeding in developing the 7-nano EUV process for the first time in the industry last year.

In addition, it is developing 6-nano and 5-nano processes, and is predicting full-scale competition in the foundry market. In addition, it is spurring the development of the 4-nano Finpet process and the 3-nano MBCFETTM process. Samsung Electronics plans to complete the development of 5-nano and 4-nano finpet processes starting with mass production of 6-nano applied products.

In addition, it is also promoting the expansion of the’EUV Foundry’ on the Pyeongtaek campus in Gyeonggi-do, accelerating to leap to become the No. 1 global semiconductor company.

It is also expected that Samsung Electronics will accelerate form factor innovation in the smartphone business to actively step into the world’s No. 1 award.

Samsung Electronics is being evaluated as leading the popularization of the form factor by releasing a foldable smartphone with price competitiveness last year. In particular, Samsung Electronics’ position in the foldable smartphone market has been further strengthened as competitors slowed down due to technical issues.

This year, it is expected to introduce next-generation smartphones sequentially, starting with the’Galaxy S21′, which will be introduced earlier this month.

According to Strategy Analytics (SA), Samsung Electronics’ smartphone shipments last year were estimated at 254.9 million units, and Mercury is expected to be the number one with a market share of 19.9%. As Huawei, which has been closely following Samsung Electronics, has weakened its competitiveness due to US sanctions, it is expected to serve as an opportunity to expand its market share for Samsung Electronics.

In particular, this year’s smartphone market is expected to be a boon as the 5G phone market is expected to improve significantly in six years. Global smartphone shipments this year are expected to grow by more than 13% year-on-year to 1.48 billion units, and 5G smartphones are expected to grow rapidly from 270 million units this year to 670 million units next year.