According to foreign media reports, Samsung's system LSI department, which is responsible for chip design, has recently carried out business and organizational reorganization, giving priority to AI chip development. This reorganization has led to a reconsideration of the next-generation automotive processor "Exynos Auto" (codenamed KITT3).
In the face of the rapidly changing market environment and technology trends, Samsung's LSI division decided to strategically reorganize and focus on the development and production of AI chips by concentrating its resources and efforts on the development and production of AI chips. This decision is not only an accurate grasp of the current market demand, but also a deep insight into the future development trend of science and technology.
Samsung Electronics' journey into the high-performance automotive semiconductor market began in 2018 when the company announced the launch of the Exynos Auto brand. Last year, Samsung unveiled the Exynos Auto V5 chip on a 920nm process and announced a semiconductor collaboration with Hyundai Motor Company, demonstrating its commitment to the era of autonomous driving and electric vehicles.
However, since the end of 2022, the rise of AI and developments such as ChatGPT have prompted Samsung to revise its chip design strategy. The recent EV divide – a temporary slowdown in demand ahead of mass adoption, and the fact that global automakers such as Hyundai Motor and Tesla are developing their own chips – have also influenced Samsung's strategic shift.
Figure: Samsung's LSI division is reorganized to prioritize the development of AI chips
As the core foundation of artificial intelligence technology, the importance of AI chips is self-evident. With the wide application and in-depth development of artificial intelligence technology, the market demand for AI chips has grown rapidly. Samsung Electronics saw this huge market potential and decided to focus on AI chips for future development. By pooling its superior resources, Samsung's System LSI Division will focus on developing more efficient, intelligent, and reliable AI chip products to meet the needs of different industries and promote the further popularization and application of AI technology.
The reorganized system LSI division will focus on the design and development of AI chips with 100 to 150 professional designers. This team will be Samsung's core competency in AI, enabling the company to take the lead in high-performance computing, mobile devices, and future autonomous and electric vehicle technologies.
At the Technology Day 2023 event, Samsung Electronics presented its vision for future system LSI technology. From in-device computing technology and multimedia applications to in-vehicle SoCs, Samsung Electronics' technology showcase covered the full range of technological advancements from CPUs and GPUs to NPUs. Especially in the AI era, Samsung Electronics' NPU solution is expected to dramatically improve performance, eliminate memory bottlenecks, and provide strong support for nonlinear operations based on Transformer models.
