JAKARTA - Samsung Electronics is moving closer to MediaTek, Taiwan's largest fabless chip company, as demand for chips for artificial intelligence or AI continues to soar.
According to a Yonhap report quoted on Friday, May 22, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong met with MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai in Taiwan on Thursday. The meeting is said to discuss partnership opportunities, especially to strengthen Samsung's foundry business.
Foundry is the business of producing chips for other companies. While fabless is a company that designs chips, but does not have its own factory. MediaTek falls into this category. Currently, MediaTek's chip production orders are placed at TSMC.
Therefore, the meeting between Lee and Tsai is important. Samsung has been trying to increase the share of its foundry business amid TSMC's dominance. The explosion in the need for AI chips makes the scramble for big customers more intense.
Industry sources said Samsung and MediaTek are likely to discuss in more detail the opportunities for cooperation in the high-level meeting.
The meeting was also considered as part of Samsung's steps to calm global partners. Previously, Samsung reached a last-minute deal with its labor union. The deal prevented potential disruptions to the global supply chain.
Samsung is currently the world's largest memory chip manufacturer. However, in the foundry business, the South Korean company still has to catch up with TSMC.
Samsung has recently received foundry orders from a number of major global companies, including Tesla and Qualcomm.
The approach to MediaTek shows Samsung continues to expand its foundry business amid rising demand for chips for AI.
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